It's tragic but true: love is life and life is love!

Desiree

If you love something, let it go...if it comes back, it's yours, if it doesn't, it never was!

What if the day she/he comes back...you are long gone?
What if some day you learn that she/he is long gone?

Greg Bernhardt

You'll both be dead in 100 years, so what difference does it make.

DaveC426913

If he/she didn't come back, then he/she didn't come back.

You can't wait for the stars to grow old before deciding he/she is gone. Your life is finite and the clock is ticking.

GeorginaS

If I let the cat who lives with me -- who I love beyond anything sane -- go, she'd likely get run over by a car. She doesn't appear to mind captivity. We're both satisfied with the arrangement.

People, on the other hand, tend to get a bit peeved when under the perceived yoke of ownership. That's easy enough to fix. Treat people with respect.

I've never been a fan of that particular platitude

zoobyshoe

The saying "If you love someone, set them free" is misunderstood. The point is not to set them free for their sake, and hope they come back, it is to relinquish the hold they have on you: your attachment to them.

If you set someone free as a test of whether or not they're really yours, nothing is solved. They own you.

BobG

I think this theory was disproven in the movie Cliffhanger. Stallone let her go..... she didn't come back.

MotoH

James Bond always had girls come back to him.

Evo

I've always thought that was the stupidist thing I'd ever heard. If you love someone and you let them go, they'll naturally assume that you don't love them, and find someone else that does.

The only way that saying could have a positive meaning is if you are clinging to someone that doesn't love you and/or you are hurting, and the right thing is to let them go because they don't want to be with you, in which case, don't sit around expecting them to return. Get over it and move on.

This saying has always struck a cord with me.

DaveC426913

Yes, the operative phrase is "let them go"; it's not "push them away".

Letting them go means don't try to control them.

Desiree

I believe this old saying means what you mentioned. One should just get over it and move on and forget about "what if she/he comes back?". But like I said, if that happens, it could be years down the road and there is absolutely no guarantee that you are still alive or you still love them.