All you need... is love?

Written by: Alex

Love. It's a word that's been around for centuries on end, yet as the years go on, it appears to be used more openly than ever before. Gone are the days where it took months to gather up the courage to tell your partner, "I love you". Now, teenagers (and in fact, pre-teens at times), are going around telling their latest boyfriend or girlfriend "I love you, babe!" This after they’ve been with them for less than two weeks.

Then, a few weeks down the road, there'll inevitably be the breakup. In many cases, tears will be shed. Occasionally, they'll swear off dating for a while, to 'get over it', but then they'll move on, find someone new, and claim they love them. The previous person was forgotten, and so the cycle continues.

There seems to be so much 'love' in the world these days, but the true meaning of it varies. Some of it is brotherly and sisterly love, the kind of love that siblings share. The relationships between siblings are unique -- they have a connection that can't be duplicated.

Some of my friends claim to have a strong dislike, even a 'hatred' of their brothers and sisters. I'm an only child -- I've never experienced love between siblings for myself. Other friends are extremely close to their siblings, even though there are over 2 years between them in age. But in all cases, I know that if they were to suffer the loss of their sibling, even one they claimed to 'hate', they would be shattered. While some people can become like a brother or sister to you, they can't fill the huge shoes that belong to true siblings.

There's the friendly love. When you're close to your friends, you tend to tell them that you "love" them -- in a friendly way, of course. For example, I can go into my regular chatroom online. I can almost guarantee that in less than hour, someone will say "I love so and so" – even if they live in another country. I myself have entered that chatroom, and randomly yelled out that I "love" someone, even though I have no feelings for them whatsoever beyond friendship.

And then, there's the original love, which still holds the true meaning. The Romeo and Juliet style love, where the couples are so madly in love that they'd do anything for their other half -- even die for one another.

I've seen both young couples and older couples alike in love. Though their ages range from the mid twenties to early eighties, it doesn't change the degree of love. From what I can tell, my cousin and her boyfriend are just as much in love as my grandparents were before my grandmother passed away. The fact that my grandparents had been married for close on 50 years while my cousin isn't even engaged yet has nothing to do with it; either way, it's still love for both pairs.

It's just become accepted in society now, that the word "love" now has several meanings. But though its meaning now varies, the intention is still the same. And we still need it. The world would not be the same as it is today without love. Sure, there's a war in Iraq still going on, and fights happen daily. But with all the hatred that exists in our live, we need things like love to balance things out.

While I'm not overly religious, a quote in the Bible sums up my feelings about love perfectly. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

I know people who claim love doesn't exist. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. I'm not quite sure myself. There's no scientific 'proof' to back up either side. But I know that if people don't believe in love, when things go wrong, they're going to have nothing to hold onto.