Target practice
The wounds invisible
That Cupid’s keen arrows make.
— Shakespeare
It really is ironic, if not fatalistic, that being smitten by love is often attributed to being shot in the heart by an arrow, Cupid’s arrow. For those of you who are not up to scratch on such matters of the heart, Cupid was the god of love and sexuality in ancient Rome. A picture or statue of Cupid was usually shown as a naked boy with wings, who is holding a bow and arrow. Many Valentine cards are decorated with hearts and images of Cupid.
So, the legend goes that anyone who is shot by Cupid’s arrow instantly falls in love with the person who requested it. The song by Sam Cooke says it all.
Cupid, draw back your bow,
And let your arrow go,
Straight to my lover’s heart, for me, for me,
Cupid, please hear my cry,
And let your arrow fly,
Straight to my lover’s heart for me.
Cupid, the romantic hit man. So the thought is, anyone who gets shot by Cupid’s arrow will instantly fall in love with the person who ordered the hit job and hopes that his aim is unerring.
Oh, if only wishes were to come true, and as the saying goes, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” That’s the legend of Cupid and his arrow of wishful thinking, the master archer who uses people’s hearts as target practice.
And that’s where we’ll aim today, right after these accurate responses to what I had to say about ‘Dutiful wives’.
Hi Tony,
Newly married wives tend to be in a state of honeymoon, where the romance still dictates that the wife performs certain duties. This may last about a year or so before the wife has figured out that she is not obligated to perform certain or all acts or duties in and out of the house, and may slowly shed duties to her husband. The quote, “Behind every successful man, there stands a woman,” may still hold true.
Jessica
Sir Teerob,
How dare you say, imply, or justify that wives are supposed to be dutiful in order to get what they want from their husbands. What you’re suggesting is that women are manipulative hypocrites who perform certain acts and duties just to please husbands, even though their hearts aren’t into it. Well, I’m old-fashioned, and I please my husband because I want to, not because I have to.
Carmen
It really smacks of irony that the act of falling in love is attributed to being shot in the heart by an arrow. Roman mythology or not, that has got to hurt, but then again, it was Lou Rawls who sang, ‘Love is a hurting thing.’ And trust me, many people can attest to that, especially those who love deeply and got their heart broken.
But guess what, even though Cupid was the god of love and sexuality, he was also an archer, and archers sometimes miss their target. And that’s why they have to practice and practice and practice. Target practice is a must, for hours, days, weeks, months and even years, just to achieve perfection.
And this, my friends, is the grist and the gist of my tale, the act of target practice before you eventually hit the mark. This mark that I’m referring to is, of course, love and romance.
It’s very few persons, if any, who get it right the first time, instead they have to practice first, play the field, run up and down, sow their wild oats, practice, practice, practice, before they can hit the target.
Now, some people may not like to hear what I have to say, and may take umbrage with my findings, but the fact is, some people are ultimate targets, while others are merely there for target practice in the game of love and romance.
Let’s face it, it’s not the first person who you meet that you’re going to settle down with. Maybe that may happen occasionally, but usually there are regrets about not playing the field before.
“Imagine, the first woman me pick up, me pick up tack. I shudda wait.”
So what you do is to find people who can supply you with valuable experience until you meet Mr Right or Miss Right For You. Just think about it, would you, as a woman, want your man to have no experience at all in the ways of women. Can you just imagine the honeymoon night?
“Ah, let’s see, this is supposed to go here, and your leg is supposed to go here… do you have a manual?”
Target practice would solve all those serious problems.
But who do you practice on? As the saying goes, “Some you just play with, others you marry,” or, “Some you just [have sex with] while others you settle down with.” The former is just target practice to prepare you for the real deal, while the latter is the intended target.
This goes for men too, albeit to a lesser extent, for men are traditionally the hunters, while women seem to be the prey, even though it’s been said that a man chases a woman until she catches him. But that’s another story.
Many women aren’t even aware that they are merely target practice for men who shoot their arrows willy-nilly, hitting and missing until the right target is spotted and he hits bullseye. Interestingly, many mothers of sons share this view, and actually tell the young men, “Don’t just settle down with the first girl who you meet, play the field first,” or, “You can’t marry that girl, she’s just for target practice until the right one comes along.”
Yes, mothers do say that to their sons, and if not in those exact words, it’s implicit in what they advise the boys. It’s good if you’re the man, but not so flattering if you’re the one being used for target practice.
The truth is, though, some women do make themselves target practice as they do not exhibit the characteristics that men seek to settle down with. The very same way that a woman knows instantly that the man who she just met is ‘husband material’ a man knows exactly who is the marrying kind and who is simply there for target practice.
First of all, a woman with a colourful sexual reputation is definitely target practice, as every man, boy, Cupid, has shot her so full of holes that her heart looks like a sieve, not to mention other body parts as well.
“Tom guh deh, Harry guh deh, Dick guh deh, Cupid guh deh, I will guh deh too, but just for target practice.”
Definitely not the marrying kind. There are so many cases of men being involved with women, having a grand time, yet dropping them and marrying someone else just a few weeks after the break-up. That’s because they were just target practice.
Women who comport themselves in a ‘respectable’ but not too prudish way while dealing with the man on a level that he finds enticing, alluring, romantic, but not too easily sexually available, have a better chance of being the ultimate target, the prize, the marrying kind and not just target practice. Do you remember the term ‘Play hard to get’?
Sadly, too many women miss that mark, and think that by instantly jumping into bed with the first man who they meet, it’ll hold him. Ladies, sex will not hold a man, it will catch him at first, but it will not bind him to you. When he realises that’s all that you have to offer and nothing else, all you are to him is target practice, fast food, until the meal deal comes along. If sex alone could hold men, how come they don’t marry prostitutes?
Have you ever wondered how some women are pretty like money, but can never hold a man? That’s because all that they are to men is target practice. So many women fall into this category, some by accident, others by design.
Women who play the field a lot and their reputation gets sullied, women who are mistresses to married men, do not realise that all that they are to the man is target practice, for even though he has his wife at home, he still shoots his arrows repeatedly into her, for years and years and years.
Women who juggle multiple men at the same time, concurrent concubines, getting what they want from different men, but never getting the fulfilment of a stable relationship are target practice. But then again, that may be exactly what she wants and nothing else.
Women who cheat on their men do not realise that the man who they are cheating with may just see them as target practice, as mistrust clouds the relationship.
“If she do it to him, she will do it to me too.”
So many women are walking around with a bullseye on their backs, not knowing that men view them as nothing else but target practice. What are you, the settling down kind, a keeper, or just target practice?
More time.
seidp1yard@gmail.com
Footnote: I’m a news junkie. From my high school days I was hooked on Time magazine, Newsweek, National Geographic and others. I grew up and spent years in the media, still do, and I continue to have a thirst for news. I watch everything that I can. My colleague columnist Dr Jason McKay focused on reporting last week as he wrote about media bias, something that I feel strongly about. We all hear about the war in Ukraine, and it’s terrible. But who hears about the other atrocities taking place around the world, claiming far more lives and causing even greater destruction?
Who knows about the Rwandan genocide that claimed millions of lives? We know of the holocaust, which was horrific, but who knows about the genocide of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia that claimed millions also, or the millions killed in the Belgian Congo under the rule of King Leopold of Belgium? The media have a bias, and that’s why you have to read and watch extensively.