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To define love would take more than two pages. I believe this to be true because the longer I thought about “love” more and more different aspects emerged that shone upon me like a new light. Initially, the word “love” caused a knee-jerk reaction into thinking about feelings between a man and a woman. Since we have been studying Romeo and Juliet, I think it is natural that my mind was blocked of anything but that vision. As I settled in by the fire with my warm cup of peach tea, my dog snuggled up next to me. Gazing up at me with her soulful, topaz eyes, brimming with devotion, I realized that here stood another form of love. On the edge of that discovery, my mind was overwhelmed with a flood of new views.
With my brain still swirling from this new awareness, my cell phone screen lit up almost like a reflection of my mind. Glancing at the name on the screen, my heart fluttered like a butterfly. I picked up my phone to read my sister’s text and another aspect of love hit me. The support and loyalty between siblings can bond hearts together stronger than steel. Just a simple “I miss you!” can make a heart smile.
When I touched the “back” button on my phone, a message from my dad a few days ago caught my eye. Complementing me on my homecoming pictures, and telling me how much he hoped that I “had a good time” made me understand another facet of this precious jewel we call love. I imagine myself a jeweler, and with just a small rotation, another dimension appears to me.
As with most jewels, there are flaws to love. One such blemish can be the love of money, which in turn can lead to negative characteristics. Obsession, greed, addiction, lying, and possession are just a few of the possible results. I tried to think of the positive effects to the love of money, but then experienced a disappointing realization; there is no good that comes out of the love of money. When a person carries this feeling inside of themselves, the one thing they cannot do is share it. Love of money consumes a person, where other types of love grow when freely shared. I believe this is what the quote at the beginning of this paper refers to.
From this train of thought, my mind flitted onto a news story about a solider returning home from war and surprising his wife at a restaurant. It hit me that I had stumbled upon another angle of the jewel. How many soliders throughout the years never had the chance to make their mother break out in joyful tears of relief or their significant other cry out with delirious elation? The love for their country seized them from their loved ones back home. This ultimate demonstration of love, the sacrifice of self, has to be one of the most beautiful facets of the jewel, even in its horridness.
These are only a few examples of this word “love”. Who knew that such a small, overused word, with a major lack of comprehension, had so many dimensions? I honestly did not. With this new understanding, the next time the words “I love (fill in the blank)!” flies out of your mouth, stop and think. Do you truly “LOVE” whatever that may be, or are you over-wearing that rare, precious jewel inappropriately? |
