Love.
A simple four letter word that is so easily overused, quickly overplayed, carelessly discarded, recklessly shared, and thoughtlessly screamed, that is has lost its most basic meaning.
So I'll tell you this in the most brutally straightforward manner that I can manage... We, as a generation, have forgotten the difference between liking someone, loving someone, being in love with someone, and being in love with the idea of love.
While 'love' is one of the trickiest words to define, 'like' is not. If you like someone, I think it really means that you like who they are, what they do, how they treat you, and how they make you feel. Liking someone is wanting to do things with a certain person, just because you know that it would be more fun if they were there with you. Being in like does not have to be mutual, and most of the time it isn't. This is one of the most common and basic forms of what most people today would consider to be "love".
Lusting after someone is having a desire to have them or be with them. I believe that love is taking that one step further. Love is wanting someone and wanting everything they are, but only with the condition that they want you back. Love is giving someone the power to hurt you, and trusting that they won't. Loving someone is wanting someone in their most vulnerable state and hoping that they want you in the same way, just as much. Loving someone can easily be confused with being in love with someone.
I believe that being in love with someone is more in depth, more overpowering, and more consuming than just loving someone. Being in love means that you would go to the ends of the earth for someone. Being in love is loving someone unconditionally, meaning that you would love them regardless if they loved you back. Being totally, head over heels in love with someone means that you love them in every possible state, shape, or form that they could be in. Being in love with someone means that their happiness is your happiness... that their sadness is your sadness. While these things could easily be applied to liking or loving someone, you should understand the difference, which is: these feelings will be so intense, so obvious, and so prominent, that when you really are in love, you will know because you've never felt this way with anyone else you thought you were in love with. Being in love is one of the scariest and most amazing experiences a person could ever have in their entire life. In fact, most people don't even get to experience it. But that's the mystery of it, isn't it? Whether or not you'll ever find a true love in your life is the most terrifying yet exciting thing you have to look forward to.
And finally, I will give you a clear explanation of the true explanation. While most people will ridiculously jump at any chance they get to say that they are in love, there may just be some method to their madness. When someone claims to be in love, we should be very skeptical about what they are in love with. Are they really in love with that other person... or are they in love with the idea of love? In our society, we idolize power couples like Kimye and Jae, putting emphasis on the social importance of being in a relationship and loving someone else. The media strives to portray the perfect couple that is totally in love, (when behind closed doors it's all just a publicity stunt). We begin to believe that showing others and telling others that we are in love with someone, is crucial if you want to be popular and successful. We need to understand that love is just a concept, a theory, a shout into the void. It means something different to every individual. Love isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Really, some of us are just misguided creatures, in love with the idea of love.
- Danielle Kuzel (2014)
