Kakao Brunchbook 6th Publishing Project Special Award Winner
Wine flows into the Glencairn glass -- deep ruby radiance, bewitching color. Swirling the glass gently. A vibrant aroma flies into the nostrils. Thirst rushes in. Lifting the glass to the lips. Slowly tilting. Wine flows over the tongue. Sweetness and smoothness. Closing eyes, sketching an image. We love. To become happy. The beginning starts from attraction. Regardless of age or gender. When attraction arises, you want to know more, and in the process you come to fall for each other. But coercion is strictly forbidden -- in love and in wine. The wine coercion parallel: a wine enthusiast who insists others must love the same wines they love, or who dismisses others preferences as wrong, has misunderstood what wine is for; wine exists to give pleasure to the person drinking it; if someone prefers sweeter, lighter wine to a tannic Barolo, that preference is not less valid -- it is simply different; the same principle applies to love and relationships: imposing your own preferences, tastes, and ways of being on another person treats them as an extension of your own desires rather than as an autonomous individual; genuine love, like genuine wine appreciation, begins with curiosity about the other person preferences rather than the insistence that they adopt yours. The recommendation versus imposition distinction: sharing a wine you love with someone, with genuine curiosity about their reaction, is very different from telling them they must appreciate it; the same act of sharing can be generous or controlling depending on the intention behind it.
