'Love is patient. Love is kind.'
This day and age, everyone wants to throw their own
definition of love. Join me as I throw my own in the mix in this four part
series. :D
Love is abstract. Abstracts are merely thoughts and
ideas; they are none objects that cannot be known by the scientific senses.
And yet love, like all other abstracts, must be
real. Like all other ideas, we create ideas of love from reality we observe every
day. So there must be something real about love.
Love is foremost an act. “Love” in the popular
phrase “I love you” is a verb. Yet “love” is not like “push” or “pull”, nor “go”
or “come.” When we see two people hug or kiss, we say they love each other. Or
when we see parents caring for their children, we say they are a loving family.
Let me tell you of some of my earliest experiences
with love.
Going to mass as a little boy, my favorite part
was the "peace be with you." I made it a game to go to as many people as I can
to share the sign of the peace. I kind of wanted to love everyone back then.
At that age, I was invited to my crush's birthday
party. Rather than get closer to her, I cried because I was the only boy in an
all-girl's party.
I've had many crushes since then. You could say I had "puppy loves." Short infatuations that never really lasted, or just a means to get peers to stop asking "Who is your crush?"
Love is silly to look at as a child. You
don't really understand it, and it makes you either curious, embarrassed, or disgusted. Some people would even call it a "game." But as you grow older, love becomes more serious. And from "butterflies in your stomach", love starts to become more about trust and companionship.
As an adult, I wonder if I've learnt any better, or
if I am closer to what real love is. Has anyone found "true love"? And how true can love be?
What is love? Come back next Friday, February 14 for the second part of this series. Feel free to leave your comments below! :D
(Originally written January 13, 2014)
