Importance and Meaning of Love in Human's Life: Opinion Essay

Abstract

Humans are social beings. In comparison with Animalia, humans are regarded like the primates for their social qualities. Beyond the other creature, humans are adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization, and as such have created complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups. Human groups range from families to nations. Social interactions between humans have established a very large choice of values, social norms, and rituals, which together form the basis of human society. The glue that holds together human relationships is love, which entails sacrifices and compromises ‘til death.

Keywords: Love, Family, Sacrifice, Death

Introduction

There are many distinguishable factors that differ us, humans, into other living things. We have the ability to feel emotions such as being happy, disappointed, pained, and most especially, humans are capable of feeling love and falling in love. We are capable of expressing ourselves to everyone. That makes us a higher being than of animals. So, we should use this capability in accordance to our Creator’s standard of love.

Now, let us define the meaning of love. What is love? There are many definitions of love that makes us think it isn’t real anymore. And we, ourselves have our own definition of love base on how we think about it and how can we feel it. Love does not defy what we expect to get from other people but what we expect to give to them–which is everything.

Sub-topic 1 (Love is Powerful)

First to discuss is, why does love exist? It may be a big question for us because all of a sudden love did just grow in our life unexpectedly. And all of us might be curious about it. But what are the signs of love? And how can we conclude that what we feel is already love. The signs are the following: 1) You’re authentic with this person. 2) Your eyes really are only for each other. 3) Your physical relationship leaves you with an afterglow. 4) You’re motivated to make your partner’s life easier. 5) You take risks with your partner. 6) You intrinsically enjoy your partner’s company. These examples are perhaps limited for those who are in a relationship; however love does not limit itself for those who have a partner in life. Sometimes it begins with the people we often interact with; example of these is our family or friends. Love starts with our family, from the day we are born and the first time we saw the world, it is definitely the result of love. Our parents give us the chance to live and give us the love we all deserve to have that leads us where we are standing right now.

Second is the purpose of love, does love bring joy or hatred? Love brings joy if you know how to love. I think what we are doing or what we are giving to people is also what we have received. It’s all about experience and the people that surround you. Because no one will literally teach you how to love but they will show and makes you feel how love really feels. Moreover love can hurt us, not in the way you would think that love is wrong all along. It can hurt people when it is too much, it also can hurt people if it does not satisfy the love we want to receive. In fact according to bible “love bear all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7) and that love never fails. Love needs not any boundaries or norms, love can never be wrong or inappropriate unless the person uses it to hurt and dishonor his or her commitment to someone. Which gives me an idea that maybe it is in the people who had the fault and not the love that keeps us enduring the life.

According to St.Paul’s reading, from his first letter to the Corinthians, that everybody strives eagerly for the greatest spiritual gift which is love. But there is still a more excellent way to show it. He said “If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I gave away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” this explains that no gift of God, whether it be the gift of tongues, faith that move mountain, knowledge or mysteries, has meaning unless it is accompanied by love.

Based on my experience and as a teenager who’s one of the millennial, many of us blame the love when they experience heartaches. Is it because of love or it is because of the person being involved? The truth is we cannot force other people to love us, it is a choice and it’s their choice to love us back if they want to. Don’t settle for a force love in which you dictate all the things you want just to feel loved, it’s not love anymore if the other party don’t feel the same way as you do. They have the power to strengthen the love within them and also they have the power not to do so. Let them be, for true love is granted to those who know patience and perseverance. The decision is in every person’s hand to define love righteously. Stay to those people who gave you love like your friends that you can count on. They are one of those people that can love you unconditionally, your 2nd family.

Now, we would have a healthier conception of love if we understood that love, like parenting or friendship, is a feeling that expresses itself in action. What we actually feel is mirrored in what we tend to do. The poet’s song is dazzling and therefore the passion powerful, but the deepest beauty of love is how it changes lives.

But then again, do we understand what love is. “Is Love an invention or discovery?” a thought that is circulating throughout the internet. It was a thought just like any other topic for a late night talks. But in all honesty, is it really an invention or discovery? does love an invention, it is said that perception and expression was invented while others said that love is a discovery for it was the discipline and theories of love that discuss it that are discovered. One cannot simply define love, if one hasn’t feel in love. To define love, you must undergo into different situation, different feelings, understand ideas, and different event, starting from the love for yourself then you can say it’s definition. But love in its purest form is love. It can be an invention and at the same time a discovery, because I think you and only you can define the meaning of love for human, tends to find answer in question created by ourselves. You, yourself defines the meaning of love, you create the answer for the question in front because love for me is a choice. You chose to love embracing what comes to it even though knowing the consequences because at the end of the day, your choice is what only matters and you must be prepared for what comes to it whether it is the right or the wrong choice.

According to Adrian Catron, Love is the most powerful emotion a human being can experience but it can’t be powerful if you don’t know what love is, how it works, where to find it and when to use it. Love is everywhere if you know what it is. The word love isn’t just someone’s feeling of love there is more to it. In ancient Greek, Love is defined by 7 states; Storge: natural affection, the love you share with your family. Philia: the love that you simply have for friends, Eros: sexual and erotic desire kind of love (positive or negative), Agape: this is the love, or divine love, Ludus: this is mocking love, like immature love or romp, Pragma: long standing love (the love during a married couple), Philautia: the love of the self (negative or positive). Knowing this, the love you’re saying to your partner and your friend is not the same. For example, you can say “I love you” to two different person, but you can feel it in a different way and mean it at the same time. This confusion makes it harder to understand what love really is, what’s its purpose and its conditions. It is easy to recognize it if you learn to use words wisely, then, you can recognize what kind of love you are feeling, and enjoy different kind of love. Love is a practice, it is not something you can find or don’t find. And it takes a lot of time and practice to fully understand.

Sub-topic 2 (Love conquers all)

Moreover, Love and death are often associated with each other in artistic depictions of human existence. In movies ‘love’ is typically the same to be the sole factor value worth living for. In Christian literature death has been prophesized because the unharmness from this tough world and therefore the entree to world of final peace and love. But sometimes, love and death combined can be very devastating.

Thus, Love is indeed powerful which is the 7th sense that destroy all the 6 senses. Just like the Death of our love ones. Maybe that is one of the examples why too much love can truly hurt us. Whether we like it or not if it is the time that they need to leave us, they will leave us. And I think that’s one of the most devastating we can ever feel. Truly, when we love someone, we are willing to give up our happiness, their lives, give up everything for them to be happy, even if it means that they’ll be gone for good.

For instance, my grandmother just passed away this January 25, 2019 which causes me so much pain. Although I don’t want it to happen, I, myself can’t control it. Sometimes there is a right pain that a loving person can experience maybe because we will be hurt only if we love the person, if there is something we feel towards them. I admit that sometimes, the selfish me wishes for her to be alive and still making memories with us. But whenever I do, my heart hurts. Because I realized that I’m keeping her for my own good. Because if she leaves, I’ll be sad. But if we truly love them, we will look at the brighter side, especially if they are old enough to at least rest, since my grandmother is already 84 years old and have been through a lot of pain. I think she deserve to rest and stop all the pain she feels. I can do everything for her. I can sacrifice my own happiness of keeping her, I can let her go so that she can have the peaceful life she truly deserve. And that is being with our Mighty God’s side. My grandmother never fails to make me feel that I’m loved and that’s enough for me. It hasn’t been long since my grandmother died and all of the memories that I have with her still lingers on my mind. And I think it will take time for me to finally let them go.

For the next discussion, is sacrifice really necessary in love? ‘Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love is by far the truest type of love.’ Making sacrifices is another sign of love. It is one of the purest and the most selfless ways to love someone. There is no better way of showing one’s loyalty or love other than of sacrifice. It is not a big part of love, but necessary for love to exist. Because when a person loves someone, they have to give a little. And in order to gain something, one must give. And that’s what makes the relationship between individuals much easier. Just like in a family, there are families with a culture of self-sacrifice. This type of family teaches its members that they “should” build sacrifices for the sake of the family. They foster the thought that an individual must put their own desires and needs after those of the family unit. This type of behavior can be seen mostly on parents. They behave according to the idea that their children’s happiness is the most important thing.

However, people need to know when they need to stop sacrificing. They have to know the value of what they want to sacrifice and the consequence of it. Because love doesn’t always have to be a sacrifice. For example, when someone you love wants you to sacrifice your mental health, emotional well-being, or your safety, you can say no. Since those sacrifices do not benefit you or your relationship and you don’t have to make them.

There is one thing necessary to be learned from the art of letting go. Some people believe that holding on and making sacrifices is sign of great strength. However, one can learn a thing or two from letting go it can free you from great pain, save you from misfortunes and such. To let go also means to give up resisting and struggling to hold on to meaningless issues in exchange for wholesome moments that come our way by allowing and accepting constant realities that come by in our daily lives. A wise man once said “Accept ‘what is’, let go of what was and having faith in what could be.” As we mature and grow wiser, we realize what we need to carry on and what we have to let go. Walking from painful memories is a step forward. It takes more strength to know when to let go and then do it because we got so in touched to it we don’t want to leave the box and tend to stay for comfort and assurance. Little did we know, await us is the change we have been longing for so long but we ignore it because of the great pain it can cause. Change is constant. Change happens for a reason the same goes for all the events happening around us.

Prevention is better than cure. And so letting go prevents sacrificing that can cause negative effect. But what if one cannot avoid an inevitable sacrifice is there any way to avoid it? And that’s where compromise enters. The need for sacrifices is often mentioned in discussions of romantic relationships but in reality there are compromises. Are the two similar and if not, which of the two is most needed in romantic relationships? According to Romantic Ideology, love is frequently described as involving a fewer sacrifices and a lot of resisting compromises. In reality, the situation is typically the opposite-relationships require fewer sacrifices and more compromises. To sacrifice is to give up something precious in order to gain or maintain something, such as a valuable relationship or some other worthy cause. Thus, we can say that some women sacrifice their careers for their family or man sacrifices their time for their children. And to compromise is to give up the pursuit of a better prospect in order not to risk an existing situation, even if it is perceived to be somewhat worse than the prospect that is relinquished.

In loving relationship, it involves both sacrifice and compromise. The sacrifices are easier to live with and lovers attempt to accommodate to their compromises and no longer view them as such. So although sacrifices and compromises are prevalent in romantic relationships, in genuine love they are not experienced as such. Sacrifices must be made if necessary and compromising is needed because both will not always be in an agreement. No matter how compatible two people are or how much they have in common, they’re never going to agree 100% with each other all the time; they will always come to a point where they need to make compromise.

Conclusion

According to St. Paul, Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love never fails. Love should be enjoyed throughout the whole life. Enjoy the experience of love like it will last forever. Life is unpredictable and nobody is aware of what tomorrow will provide. You may never know until when you will have the chance. So, make everyone around you, especially your family, feel the love you have for them while you still can. Love is associate degree feeling in action, you’ll learn the way to feel and cultivate your love. It’s easy to love if you know what love is. First you must understand and learn different situations of love. Recognize what kind of love it is when you’re feeling them. Then you go share it. Love between 2 people begins if it is based on truth and respect. That is something you start making effort and give to gain the same. If the other party begins to give you what you gave then love is created and can grow in time with some practice. Though, if the other does not give the same, maybe you might want to consider if it is worth it to wait to receive something or not wait at all. After all, it is your choice to love and not to love. It is very easy to fall in love but it is difficult to stay in love. But if it is difficult to stay in love then it is not the love for a lifetime. It is love for experience. In love there is no winner or loser, each one of us make sacrifices and compromises for the benefit of our partners, family, and even material things. And lastly, open your heart completely and do not let your worries and fears be a hindrance for you to experience the wonderful feeling of love.

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