What is ‘love’  

Gerardo V. Flores
The Netherlands
Tue 8th February 2011



Some search for it their whole lifetime and never find it. Others just turn around and without knowing bump into it. A few realize just too late that it had been in front of them all the time.
 

The phenomenon called ‘love’ is a strange thing. In this context I do not mean the love and care you receive from your family, relatives or friends. I mean the love that could make you do stuff beyond your imagination. It is the love that can make you happy and feel good about yourself. It opens up your heart for that someone special. It is also the love that could break your heart, make you bitter or enables you to let things go.
 
So how does it work? Well, I am not an expert, medical doctor, or psychologist. You could read books about it, watch movies, some people even say it is written in the stars. However, really feeling love yourself is quite different from seeing it happen to others, or hearing about it. In the things I observed it seems that there are many ways of expressing one’s love to the other. We all know the story of the old couple sitting on a bench enjoying each other’s company on a sunny afternoon. Or, how about that cute girl or guy next door you have been wanting to ask out for weeks now. Yes, some of us fall instantly in love. Others have a need to play games, or are actually not sure what they are getting into. And then we are not even talking about all the romantic stuff yet. The dates, gifts, movies, songs, events, dancing, fights, you name it, it is all in the name of love.
 
But the bottom line, actually what really matters, is do you both connect. I mean one could put up a whole charade, pamper you and do the wild man’s dance. But if there is no connection whatsoever, all the efforts are in vain as the feeling of love will never go straight  to your heart. And if you try to pursue, knowing that there never will be a connection or such  a connection has faded away, in the end you will be fooling yourself.
 
In this modern age the commercial world introduced a variety of opportunities to reach the one you love. For instance, a late night radio program where someone can request a song for someone he/she loves or is in love with. In addition there are popular TV shows where someone can take all the efforts, at the show’s expense, to be able to see his/her loved one in person again. Such intense emotions, during a long awaited meeting between sweethearts, witness those feelings of love coming straight from the heart. Then there are also the numerous dating programs and internet dating-sites that could lead to the connection one has been longing for all this time.
 
Of course, we all know Valentine’s Day by now. It is the special day for (so-called) lovers. Many celebrate it with all the trimmings and others are just happy with a dinner for two and a nice movie showing on TV. I think such a day is great for those who are in need of such. But if you really love someone, every day is a special day. And you might be ‘that lucky’ just to be able to wake up beside the one you truly love.