Reading Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince over twelve times within the same week, I began to question what is the difference between Obsession and Love. While it is difficult to separate the two, reading this book started to open up some answers.

There was a part where the Little Prince meets an accountant who is obsessed with the stars. He counts them, owns them and keeps track of their existence as a life-style and a profession. He has no time for anything else and lives a life of poisonous obsession.

The Little Prince questions the accountants reasoning by stating that he owns a flower, which he waters everyday and takes care of, which means that there is some use and purpose for him to own the flower. While there is no use at all for the stars to be owned by the accountant.

The answer to love was never and will never be a simple one. But drawing closer and closer to the answers sheds a light of hope.

There are many stories on love out there today but what they seem to be resembling a false image of love and a reverence for obsession based relationships.

So where does obsession come from? It comes from a misunderstanding of love. Referring back the Little Prince, a fox tells him what it means to “tame”. Although the fox uses a different analogy he reveals an important truth…

When a man is tamed by a woman he can only see her, no longer is she another woman among the millions of women in the world, and no longer is he another man. They have “established ties”, they belong to each other.

It is when there is no longer a mutual need for one another the relationship takes a turn for obsession. The man would wait by the phone hours on end, keeping his schedule open for the moment the woman decides to offer a portion of her “divided” attention.

I do believe that human beings are truly self interested, but when there is a good understanding of both individuals being properly tamed they will have a truly genuine altruistic relationship with each other.

-Rawad Wehbe