Is It Really Love?

This column has been a long time coming. As with any teenager (as with anybody!), I suppose one of the biggest questions that affects myself and others is- What is "Love"? Other than one of the most overused words in the English language. What does it mean? Does it reallly mean anything anymore?

Somebody once explained to me all the different types of love-how there is love in family, love in God, love as friends, love physically, crushes, "like", "lust", and a whole slew of other things that, to me, seem to have no relation to the original subject that I was typing about- namely "Love."

Well, let us look at examples from famous arts and literature. Harlequin Romances? Romeo and Juliet? Love me Tomorrow? Gimme Some Lovin? All's Fair in Love and War? You Don't Love Me Anymore? Plus countless others. Somehow, this doesn't really help the situation- rather it clouds it over rather badly. I think my Integral Calculus Homework was easier to understand.

Well, how about this? "Love is that state where one person's happiness is essential to your own." (Thank you Robert Heinlein.) I like that definition simply because it makes no assumptions about anything. Nice and general. No innuendo. To love is to care. And, this way, people can love a lot of other people without causing misunderstandings (like husbands and wives wielding foot long butcher knives.)

The problem with that definition is that most other people don't get it. Remember that this society still has enormous conotations attached to words like "Boyfriend" and "Girlfriend." According to people who keep track of these things (the same people who think "A Current Affair" and "Inside Edition" rate among the National and the Journal in terms of journalism) I have had three "girlfriends." What does that mean? I sure as anything have more than three friends who are girls, so that surely can't be a definition. Maybe they are refering to the people I've gone out with- but that doesn't work because I've seen movies with about twenty or thirty people, both in groups and just with somebody else.

Thusly, and therefore, I have used up aprroximately half the page, and I still do not have a definition for "Love"- or, at least an understanding of what other people mean by "Love"- and I've added "Girlfriend" and "Boyfriend" to the definition list. Spelling and Comprehension test tomrrow class. Be sure to study.

It's a times like this when it's safer to punt- and just ignore the question. I think I know what it means in my life. I just hope I have the wisdom to figure out what other people mean when they use it. And for people who are asking- yes, I've used "Love". And I've meant it everytime I've used it.

Maybe that's another point that should be raised- when do you use "love" in language? To me it's something that's delibrate and powerful- you don't toss it off casually. Though, from the stories I've heard, that's more and more the case I hear these days. I guess noble ideals about love are going the way of the dodo bird and the passenger pigeon. At least with some people I know.

Well, here's your chance to stop the trend. Have you ever said the crazy words "I Love You" in your life? If so, when? Why? Was there some higher purpose in it? Or was it lust masquerading as love, leading toward all those nice complications that makes my Integral Calculus course look like Pablum baby food.

Let's forget about defining love. Everybody has their own definition of it, I don't think I'll ever be able to know them all. Or understand them. Which is the point of this typing exercise. I just hope that when I have to know what it is, I will know. So far, I think I've been lucky- but the Integral Calculus exam starts tomorrow. (8-)