Love or Passion

      A story about the love of the writer Erich Maria Remarque for the actress Marlene Dietrich. The sad story of a love that didn't happen.

     Erich Maria Remarque is a German writer, one of the most famous authors of anti-war novels. Marlene Dietrich is a German-American actress and singer. She is known for her deep voice and her long career.

     Erich Maria Remarque madly loved Marlene Dietrich. He tortured himself, suffered, was excited, wrote her the most tender letters. And at the same time he was fighting with his beloved. Such passion boiled between them. Finally he married another woman, in spite of Marlene, who did not want to live together. She did not reciprocate his love.

     Years past. One day the writer met Marlene, already a fifty-year-old woman. And he wrote in his diary: "She is old!".

     No, she hadn't changed that much. Remarque's feelings were changed. So he saw the wrinkles, the droopy neck, the already faded look, and the hands—the hands that grow old first. He saw all this because his feelings were already different. The fiery passion was gone. Because what he felt was passion, not love.

     Because love will not allow you to write in your diary these cruel words: "She is old!". And after ten, twenty, thirty years, through the sad mist of time, you will again see only her - your dear wife. Not the wrinkles and not the gray hairs - you will only see her. And you will want to hug her, hold her close, kiss her or stroke her white hair. Because the eyes that love see only the woman dear to the heart. They do not make a merciless assessment of the ravages of time.

     He did not love her, but felt a fiery passion. Here, even a great writer can confuse these feelings. But still, time puts everything in its place. And after the passionate explanations, one day the last line of the love story appears: "She is old!". Like a point at the end of a novel.

     Marlene was a smart and perceptive woman. She was aware of things from the beginning, despite the boiling of feelings, love scenes, confessions and long letters with tender words and passionate appeals. Marlene Dietrich was smart. And she understood everything in advance, that's why she didn't agree to live together. Because she knew that one morning this man would look at the aged face of the woman beside him, and then sit at the desk and describe his disappointment. "She's old!". And there will be no trace of his love.

     In fact, love did not exist - the kind of love that truly binds people together and protects them from the scars of time. When a man truly loves, he does not see the changes that come with old age - or rather, through them, he sees his love, unfailingly desired and dear.

     Marlene hadn't changed that much. The writer had changed, but he did not understand it. This is the sad story of a love that didn't happen. And for a shrewd woman who understood everything. And he did not succumb to the passionate feelings of the writer.

     If a woman gives up passionate love, she has her reasons for doing so. And most often it turns out to be absolutely right. The one who evaluates with a merciless look the changes in the other's appearance does not truly love.

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