What is Love?
Victoria Ledesma
Issue date: 2/1/10 Section: Opinion
Nowadays, with romantic comedies and addicting TV shows about love, romance, sex, and drama, it's easy to get caught up in the warm, fuzzy, secular, and shallow definitions of love. This is especially true as Valentine's Day approaches, bringing with it red and pink hearts, candies, and phony sentimentalities. Love is going out to parties, finding someone with whom you get along, and having sex. Love is hearts and butterflies, feeling on top of the world, being with someone so perfect and attractive that everything works out "happily ever after." Awww, love. Gotta love it. Because that stuff is love, right? …Right?
But wait… how often do we see this fairytale of shallow love leading to perfect happiness in reality? Surrounded by almost 50% divorce rates and heartbroken friends in and out of relationships, how can we believe in love? No wonder there are so many cynics, as well as so many girls who pine for Price Charming after watching chick flicks and then can't seem to find him.
Do we even know what love is? When I asked Gonzaga students for a definition, many widened their eyes and stuttered, or pursed their lips, baffled. Several people simply did not know what to say, and I completely understand. It is a hard question to answer, indeed. Is it what we see in the movies? Is it an emotion that we feel off and on, depending on the day? Does love even exist?
I propose that it does. Love exists, and it is more incredible than many of us may have ever imagined. We're at a Catholic college, so it's safe to say that most of us have heard the saying, "God is love." Have you also heard that you were created by love, for love, to love? You are. John Paul II says about humankind, "Man cannot live without love…his life is senseless if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love…if he does not participate intimately in it." Love is why we were created-all of us! We're all looking for it, even if we don't realize it. Thus, when we love each other as we should, we are fulfilling our purpose.
But wait… how often do we see this fairytale of shallow love leading to perfect happiness in reality? Surrounded by almost 50% divorce rates and heartbroken friends in and out of relationships, how can we believe in love? No wonder there are so many cynics, as well as so many girls who pine for Price Charming after watching chick flicks and then can't seem to find him.
Do we even know what love is? When I asked Gonzaga students for a definition, many widened their eyes and stuttered, or pursed their lips, baffled. Several people simply did not know what to say, and I completely understand. It is a hard question to answer, indeed. Is it what we see in the movies? Is it an emotion that we feel off and on, depending on the day? Does love even exist?
I propose that it does. Love exists, and it is more incredible than many of us may have ever imagined. We're at a Catholic college, so it's safe to say that most of us have heard the saying, "God is love." Have you also heard that you were created by love, for love, to love? You are. John Paul II says about humankind, "Man cannot live without love…his life is senseless if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love…if he does not participate intimately in it." Love is why we were created-all of us! We're all looking for it, even if we don't realize it. Thus, when we love each other as we should, we are fulfilling our purpose.
Be the first to comment on this story