Just The Way You Are

"I've just lost that feeling", I heard my colleague telling me about his lost of interest in his girlfriend.

How many times have you heard of relationships ending that way? No wonder there's such a thing as the Test of Time. Who can guarantee that love or anything for that matter can last forever?

The critical part in the human relationships equation is formed by expectations. If we carry lofty ideals of how a partner should be, then the relationship would be doomed to fail, should it fall out the expectations. We should learn to accept another individual as he/she really is and focus more on making a relationship work, rather than nitpicking on their faults. Every person is made up of good and bad, as we should learn to accept that fact.

A song by Billy Joel, Just The Way You Are

Don't go changing, to try and please me
You never let me down before
Don't imagine you're too familiar
And I don't see you anymore

I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are

Don't go trying some new fashion
Don't change the color of your hair
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care

I don't want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are.

I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew
What will it take till you believe in me
The way that I believe in you.

I said I love you and that's forever
And this I promise from the heart
I could not love you any better
I love you just the way you are.

(See also: So What's Up?)