Four Letters, One Word

Four letters, one word: Love.

We are taught what love is at a very young age by our older relatives or peers.  So we have a general idea of love from the affection our parents show us and the Disney movies we have seen that usually have a princess finding true love with a prince in the matter of days or weeks.  In these type of movies or stories there is no truth to the story, there is no true meaning of love, there is only a false portrayal. To truly figure out what love really is, people need to experience so much more than just having a relationship with another boy or girl.  They should start by loving themselves and then their family because those two people will almost always love you back even if you do not think so.

The word “love” used to have such a strong meaning, but now it is said so often that most people, especially teenagers, do not understand what real love is.  Each individual develops a different view of love from the environment they have grown up in and what they experience in life.  Social media has corrupted the meaning of love by saying things such as: you have to be communicating with the person you “love” 24/7, the guy has to buy the girl gifts and serve her every need, and that you have to say “I love you” back to your partner even if you are not ready.

When you are in love, you should not feel obligated to buy the other person gifts.  When you are in love, you should want to. When you are in love, you should not feel pressured into saying that you love them back because for some people, love is more than texting into late hours and going on dates.

^“4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7New International Version (NIV))

In my AP English class, we have a question about how childhood upbringings influence how we love in our later years.  This question, which is the reason I wrote this blog post about love, can be answered and interpreted in several ways.  My interpretation stems from my own childhood experiences and what I have been told what love is.  When I was younger, love was this magical thing that happened in my princess movies and books.  In primary school, love was my parents and any other happy person in a relationship.  Since high school, love has become a dead word to me because I have seen so many people use it and end up heartbroken.  Saying the that word to another is like placing your heart into that person’s hands and not caring what they do with it. 

Broken Heart

 

So many people have told me different things about love and that I should be in love, but in high school I see no point.  It seems too risky of a move and really time consuming.  I believe that to truly be in love with another person besides your family and best friends, people need more life experience and at the age I am at, there is so much more experience we need to gain.