Love and Forgiveness

 

Image found  http://www.relationship-adviceblog.com/love/

   Love. Love is such a silly word. What does it even mean? What does the word "Love" truly, truly mean? That is where it gets interesting. The word "Love" can mean totally different things to totally different people. To one, Love may mean hanging out with someone of the opposite sex. To another, Love may mean sticking certain bodily parts into other certain bodily parts. To yet another, Love could be a universal concept that is applied to almost anything and everything in life. Love has a broad definition. Within that broad definition is my definition of the elusive true meaning of "Love". I believe that love is universal. I believe that one can love anyone or anything, use love as a verb, noun, adjective, screwdriver, you name it. Okay, not screwdriver, as that is literally a tool, but I digress. To me, to love something is to want to see it flourish and succeed, to be truly happy and to feel those feelings in oneself, regardless of whether the person doing the loving benefits or not. An example of the natural world comes to mind.
   

Image found en.wikipedia.org

Consider thinking of a bald eagle raising her chicks. The mother eagle does everything in her power to get food for her babies, sometimes flying literally miles to find food without eating for herself. She does this because of instinct to nurture and to see her babies fly, but I also believe she does it out of love. It is silly to imagine that a bird can love like a human can, and perhaps they cannot, but I choose to believe so. People have believed sillier things and still accept them to this day. For examples...well...look at every religion. This is not a religious discussion, so I will not get into that, but I believe that this is a valid example. Back to love.
     Much like the mother eagle, I want to see who or what I love "spread their wings and fly". This obviously does not apply if I say something such as "Oh my gosh. I love this toaster." The toaster is a toaster. It cannot succeed (except to make toast and other things. Mmmm. Toast and other things) or spread its wings and fly. In this sense I speak of other living things. I, for example, love my poodle, Sophie. I fret about her health when I am in school, brush her fluffy coat, and feed her (probably a little too much). This is forgivable to me. I am supposed to love my dog. But what about another human being? This is where it gets difficult for me. Should I love someone that does not really desire love (from my observations, at least), has limited sexual desire, and may not even be able to have children?
      I want to see this person spread their wings and soar, regardless of what happens to me, because I love them. And I do not know why. A duty of the human race is to love and to reproduce. If a potential mate cannot reproduce, should one really love that person? Is this forgivable? I don't know any of these answers. What I do know is this; I feel love. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it is there. It is there as clear as the sun in the sky. Well, when the sun is in the sky and readily visible, but I digress. In my opinion, to quote a popular song, "Love Stinks!" ...Well, sometimes.