The Allegory of Romeo and Juliet

I often bandy the term allegory about when it comes to how to read the Bible. I may have come to this conclusion quite honestly, just ask my uncle Philo. But we are so used to taking the text of the scriptures as gospel truth, we forget that stories were a way to teach the people of the ancient world valuable lessons.

When contemplating writing this post, Romeo and Juliet kept coming to mind. Hmm. Is this a modern retelling of the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?

It’s not hard to make comparisons that seem to confirm this theory, but I am reminded that their story is sometimes the way for a lot of couples in their teens. Family feuds, resulting in fighting in the streets, is also the way politics is being played out in the world. Can we not see that we come from the same place? Our common bonds are actually stronger than the petty arguments being promoted by the main stream media. But we humans never seem to get it, do we?

When I was about their ages in the 1960’s, I fell in love with a beautiful young lady who seemed to be destined to become my wife. Her family probably didn’t approve of me, so we were kept apart. We each were tossed out of our little garden of eden (remember the rabbit hutch, Susan?) and we each went on to lead different lives from the ones we dreamt of. Watching this film two years later, made me cry my eyes out for our loss. It took 40 years to get back to where we belonged. We finally married in 2010.