John Christian Elden: – I found love in the courtroom

Each of them comes from his own “world”. One is a high-profile lawyer, the other has a long career as a painter.

Now John Christian Elden (56) and Vibjörn Sand (58) appear in a new book in which 14 men talk about love – and what they themselves express in words.

When asked how it feels to fall in love with someone at work, Elden was quick to answer:

– Now you are inaccurate! We met at a court hearing in Lillestrom, but we didn't start working together until three years later, he says with a tolerant but firm look. The couple married in 2010, and since 2011, John Christian and his wife Sol (49) have shared a home and workplace.

loyalty

Elden doesn't want to talk about his private life, but he says that for him the concept of love includes more than just the relationship between two people.

-For me, it also means loyalty. It may be someone you have a close relationship with and are willing to go to war over. It could be your children, whom you have to take care of. It can also be loyalty to your colleagues, or the people you work for, who you also have to take care of. Knowing that someone is there for you is an important component of the concept of love, he says.

Elden's special qualities made him one of the most sought-after lawyers in the country. He says he has always been driven by a sincere desire to make an effort for the people who come into contact with him, and says the opposite of love should be indifference.

-I have always been driven by a justice mindset. This is what I do as a lawyer. Working all the time for people – find out what problems there may be and what you need help with. So one cannot be indifferent, that is his clear message.

freedom fighters

Vibjørn Sand's contribution to Men and Love does not offer special accounts of love either. He says to Se og Hør briefly, with a slight wink:

– My marital status is “unmarried”!

Vibjörn tells about love in his own way.

– My approach to love in the book is the freedom fighters during World War II – men and women who loved our values ​​and were willing to sacrifice their lives for them. He says: For me, there is no greater love than that.

When we ask if he, as a mature man, finds it difficult to show feelings or talk about love, Vibjörn answers:

– I am an artist, and I feel that I relate to love and death all the time, and I express this through my art, which is my language. We artists write about it, draw about it, write poems about it. I don't think the feelings are any less now than they were when I was younger. He believes that what makes us adults is finding a balance between reason and emotions.

John Christian nodded in agreement with Vibjörn's words. He himself has no problems showing emotions.

Feelings exist, but you can't let them affect you all the time. “I have a job where I have to suppress them and stop them, as there is a lot of emotion involved in the issues I deal with,” he says.

When we finally ask if they have any good advice to give to young people who have just fallen in love, the two gentlemen answer in their own unmistakable way:

– It's about respect and seeing your neighbour, says artist Vibjörn.

– Human rights are the measure of our value, I tell them. It says that we are born free, and enjoy the same human dignity and equal rights. If you can follow this message, you can live a good life.

-I lost myself

Attorney Elden gets straight to the point: – Take care of each other! It's a good starting point. Cultivate differences. Don't try to be the same, or change the other. It is important to remember that the person you fell in love with is the person you have already met, and that person was that person. Remember who you fell in love with! He finishes.

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