 |
| So many ways to say "I love you" ©Meredith Mullins |
Romantic
Paris: A Valentine’s Day Parable
Once upon a time, there was a city of light known as the most
romantic city on Earth. Paris opened its heart to lovers around the world.
Romance in Paris was a part of life.
Couples strolled the banks of the Seine arm in arm, kissed in
the secret (and not-so-secret) corners of the well-tended gardens, and paused
to embrace on the graceful bridges.
 |
| Romantic Paris (a view from the Pont des Arts before the love lock craze) ©Meredith Mullins |
Then a heavy weight threatened life as romantics knew it. Love
locks came to Paris. Tons of them. And the city of romance began to feel the
strain of too much love.
 |
| A new kind of love (view from the Pont des Arts today) ©Meredith Mullins |
Can Too Much Love Be a Bad Thing?
The
love-lock craze arrived in 2008. Locks were becoming cultural symbols of
commitment, from Italy to China.
The locks first
appeared on the Pont des Arts, a historic wooden walking bridge connecting the Louvre and the Institut
de France.
Couples pledged
their love by placing a padlock on the bridge and throwing the key into the
Seine. Their love was “locked” forever.
 |
| Love locked forever ©Meredith Mullins |
Love Knows No Boundaries
At first,
the locks were random—a few here and a few there—with space between to let the
beauty of the city filter through.
 |
| At the beginning © Sheron Long |
Little by
little, the spaces were filled, and the architecture of the bridges began to
change—the railings became sheets of bumpy metal and the added weight strained
the structures.
Locks were
attached to locks. Huge industrial-strength megalocks were added (no doubt
by the lock sellers), so that lock territory could be extended.
 |
| Is there such a thing as too much love? ©Meredith Mullins |
When the bridge railings were full, determined lovers turned to
new bridges and then to other lockable structures such as lampposts, statues,
fences, and even the Eiffel Tower. Everywhere you looked, there was love.
 |
| Love knows no boundaries © Sheron Long (L) ©Meredith Mullins (R) |
When lovers
could not find or buy a lock, they improvised with ribbons, tissue, shoelaces,
and plastic bags. What could be a more beautiful way to say “I love you” than
with a plastic bag?
Canny lock
sellers raised the price for a lock with more than one key. Throw one key into
the Seine, but keep an extra in case “eternal love” needed to be reassessed in
the future.
 |
| Psst...wanna buy a lock? ©Meredith Mullins |
Can Love Conquer All?
Love was
indeed conquering the city. The elegance and history of Paris were in jeopardy.
Kitsch was taking hold.
There were more
than a million locks in town and even more rusting keys in the Seine. It was only
a matter of time before a bridge would collapse or a Bateau
Mouche would run
aground on a mound of love-lock keys.
 |
| Kitsch takes hold ©Meredith Mullins |
At the
urging of disgruntled Parisians, including the No Love
Locks activists and
the arrondissement mayors responsible for the most burdened bridges, the city
finally stepped in to find a solution to all this love.
The Weight of Love
Their
work intensified when, in August 2014, a section of the Pont des Arts collapsed
under the weight of the locks. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Several key
solutions were proposed. The simple response was to cut the existing locks, but
that didn’t solve the problem for the future.
 |
| The plywood solution (Cartier-Besson rolls over in his grave, remembering a very different view) ©Meredith Mullins |
The city tested several bridge materials to discourage the
visiting lovers’ quest. Plywood and plastic panels. Both materials invited
graffiti. The bridges began to look like abandoned warehouses or New York
subways. At least the sheer panels could be cleaned every so often.
 |
| A test of the clear panels on the Pont des Arts ©Meredith Mullins |
Oh, I See
There
are many sides to this story of romance.
There are the
romantics who would say that the expression of love is the good part of what
makes us human. In fact, we need more love in the world.
 |
| Broken locks, broken hearts? ©Meredith Mullins |
There are the business people who would say that the love-lock
craze has become one of the top tourist attractions in the city.
There are the nostalgic Parisians who want the elegance and
beauty of the historic bridges left in their original form.
There are the activists who say that the placing of locks on any
historic structure is the height of vandalism.
 |
| Love or vandalism on the Pont de l'Archeveché? ©Meredith Mullins |
There are
the realists who ask the visitors if they would want Parisians to come to their
town and leave a memento behind that defaced their public spaces.
And there
are the philosophers who value the idea of liberty—the freedom to express
yourself as you wish—but who add a note of practicality.
Your right to
swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins. —Philosopher Zachariah Chafee
Love Will Find a Way
And
then there’s me. For the sake of the beauty of Paris, I hope that love will
find another way. There is no need to jump on the love-lock bandwagon.
We can stroll,
kiss, embrace, and enjoy the bridges as they were—the ultimate romance in
Paris.
 |
| The Pont des Arts in all its beauty, before the love lock craze ©Meredith Mullins |
Happy Valentine’s Day
A day to say
“I love you.” Cards, chocolates, flowers, and love locks. These cultural
symbols miss the point.
The real OIC
Moment is this:
If we could say “I love you” every day, love might be “locked” without the need
for things like love locks.
 |
| Pont de l'Archeveché ©Meredith Mullins |
For information about the Valentine’s Day “Give Paris Love (Not
Locks)” campaign, go to No Love Locks.
Thank you to Nicole de Groot for the article in
The Protocity.com quoting philosopher Zachariah Chafee.