Love quote lost and found

I was cleaning my room today when I found an old programme booklet from Dans Festival 2012. It was a dance performance by Japanese choreographer Ushio Amagatsu - profound, reflective and haunting.

In the inside pages, I found a quote by the choreographer - 'The flesh may bear pain and suffering alone, but the heart can share this with another. This is what I would call love'.

I recall that I have seen this. But back then, I was more intrigued by it's imagery - a handwritten quote along with a sketch of a stick-figure dancer. Now that I read it, 2 years later, I understand perfectly what he was trying to say.

The longing to share the burden with someone, so that he may wear a smile on his face and walk with lighter steps and carry on his chest a lighter heart.

It's when you can no longer do anything for someone, that it is time to set him free. In my simple world, I've never had to grapple with the concept of 'if you love someone, set him free. If he comes back to you, he's yours, if he doesn't, he never was'.

In my simple mind, I always thought that man and woman, if they both have the same idea of 'setting each other free', then they can never be together. Hence, this must be a flawed theory.

Now, I understand that setting someone free is not to give up nor to let go. Rather, it is when you can no longer do anything more for someone, that you need to free him so that he may follow his heart and seek the path that matters to him. And eventually, to give your blessings wherever he chooses to go, whether or not it is with you.