Cherish One Another

When I was a teenager there was a popular sappy love song by the group The Association. The girls all loved it because it was about a boy who cherished a girl but she apparently didn’t even know that he cherished her. Here are a few of the lyrics from the hit song of 1966, I would have been fourteen back then. Maybe you have heard it on a golden oldies station.

Cherish
The Association

Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don't know how many times I've wished that I had told you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could hold you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could
Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you . . .

Now looking back not only do I think the song is nauseatingly sappy but such a terrible use of a lovely word that means so much more than romantic unrequited love. According to Webster’s Dictionary it is a verb meaning;

1. To treat with tenderness and affection; to take care of; to foster; to nurture.

2. To hold dear; to value highly.

3. To indulge and encourage in the mind; to harbor; to cling to; as to cherish the principles of virtue.

So cherishing someone involves one’s actions towards them, the ways you show that you value them and want the best for them. It involves taking care of them and remembering them in your thoughts. I get the impression that to cherish someone takes a period of time and doesn’t happen overnight, it is not a crush or a love at first sight kind of a thing. It appeals to the best in us to really consider someone else before ourselves and care for them deeply. It doesn’t necessarily ask for anything in return. If we could only develop the skill of cherishing one another we would have better marriages, better relationships and a better world. To cherish someone is to assign great worth to them.

I know it seems trite but do cherish one another. I believe that what goes around comes around.

Life is fragile, don’t delay.

Lou