Love Lockdown

We have all seen that cute couple in our life that’s always together holding hands, giggling away and brining out the best in each other. Couples are always looking for ways to show off their everlasting love. A new trend of attaching padlocks to bridges or fences appears to be gaining popularity in Toronto. However, before this new fad could get started, the city of Toronto has put a stop to it. At the Humber River foot bridge, according to the Toronto Star, a crew of workers showed up carrying lock cutters to cut a couple dozen locks that were attached to the bridge’s cables. Now, only three remain.  Kevin Bowser, city parks manager, said that the main concern with all these locks being attached to the bridge is that " they just don't look good,” especially when they start to rust. Furthermore, he mentioned that part of the reason for removing all the locks was that “structural problems” may arise if lots of people start to leave locks on the bridge. Although Toronto is against the idea, in other countries bridges and gates are filled with locks. Couples who are deeply in love often write a note on the lock and throw away the key, which represents locking their love eternally. For example, the Lovelocks website reads, “around the world cities from Moscow to Rome are filled with fences, gates and poles adorned with padlocks.” These locks “connect people” around the world with the one thing that unites everyone: love.

I simply don’t see anything wrong with couples in love putting a lock on a gate or bridge to represent their “physical embodiment of emotions,” that they feel for one another. It’s actually adorable! I think that it’s silly for the City of Toronto to put a stop to these locks being put up because they are not causing anyone physical or emotional harm. People who are deeply in love with each other are expressing themselves not only to their significant other, but for the whole world to see! It’s a very artistically creative way going about expressing oneself. All around the world people have various ways of expressing their love for people. Some people engrave their names into a tree at a young age and come back years later to experience the feelings they felt for that person at a certain point. Everyone has their own way of showing off their love. I don’t think it’s fair to take away the sense of happiness someone gets from putting a lock on a gate.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/city-toronto-halts-lovelocks-fad-humber-river-foot-201428156.html;_ylt=Aqial8RMNZWLxcyhfqLFWDSTssB_;_ylu=X3oDMTFncWJzY28yBG1pdANCbG9nIEluZGV4IGJ5IEJsb2cEcG9zAzk2BHNlYwNNZWRpYUJsb2dJbmRleA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFvZzc0cXR2BGludGwDY2EEbGFuZwNlbi1jYQRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANibG9nBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

Chittley , Jordan . "City of Toronto halts new Lovelocks fad on Humber River foot bridge." Yahoo News. N.p., 10 Dec. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/city-toronto-halts-lovelocks-fad-humber-river-foot-201428156.html;_ylt=Aqial8RMNZWLxcyhfqLFWDSTssB_;_ylu=X3oDMTFncWJzY28yBG1pdANCbG9nIEluZGV4IGJ5IEJsb2cEcG9zAzk2BHNlYwNNZWRpYUJsb2dJbmRleA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFvZzc0cXR2BGludGwDY2E