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When to Let Go – A Penguin’s Tale

By Akinlolu Oluwamuyiwa
14 November 2016   |   2:14 pm
I woke up on Saturday morning to a video of two male penguins fighting over a female penguin. I found it hilarious to an extent but at the same time it was quite saddening considering the fact that the husband penguin was willing to fight for his wife at the expense of his own life.…

I woke up on Saturday morning to a video of two male penguins fighting over a female penguin. I found it hilarious to an extent but at the same time it was quite saddening considering the fact that the husband penguin was willing to fight for his wife at the expense of his own life.  I thought to myself, “husband penguin, wait a minute. Sometimes, you just have to use your brain rather than letting your emotions get the better of you, what in penguin name are you doing when you cannot even fight?”

After seeing that video, I realized that both humans and animals are similar in many ways, especially when it comes to relationships – they both find it difficult to let go. Every day, I think about the fact that people stay with their partners even when they see all the cards played out, leaving them on the losing side. You hear things such as, “we will try to work things out” or “he was not like this one year ago when we started dating, he was extremely loving”. I believe there are certain things that cannot be worked on or are not worth saving especially when the other person shows no interest. Whatever it is that is going to crash will crash, it would only prolong the amount of time due to the “let’s try and make things work” mentality. However, people would rather hold on (no matter how detrimental it is to their wellbeing) rather than letting go. Most times, people hold on just because they are afraid to start all over again.

Relationships require utmost commitment from the individuals involved. Contrary to what most people have come to accept, I totally believe that infidelity in relationships is caused by the lack of love. Cheating on a partner means there is lack of love and respect, therefore the moment love is lost between partners, respect diminishes and infidelity creeps in.

Using the husband and wife penguin as a case study, it was obvious that the wife penguin had fallen out of love with her husband but the husband was still very much in love with his wife and was willing to forgive her and take her back. To protect this relationship, he was willing to fight off the home wrecker so his wife could come back to him.

To love or not to love is a choice and wife penguin made her choice and there was no turning back. Recognising this fact was supposed to be enough reason for him to move on, instead he decided to fight for his wife due to the memories they shared together and he was probably scared of starting all over again on his own.

Relationships are not suppose to die down, they should grow stronger with each passing day. It is important to remember that a few happy moments, should not be enough to hold on to toxic relationships. Especially relationships that results in the case of losing ones dignity and values in the process of holding on to an unrepairable relationship.

“Sometimes, it requires more strength to let go than to hold on”

 

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