Love is supposedly a universal concept and feeling, meaning that everyone knows it and can feel it. I thought that this idea was interesting when I first heard it because of all the different kinds of love you can have. Whether the love is towards a person, place or thing, it is all still classified under the one term, love. Not only can love be split up into a category based on who or what it’s towards, but it also comes in varying degrees within those categories.
This all got me thinking about how I personally know love. I’ve had love for family, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, pets, places, food and even stuffed animals. Every single one of those loves were such different experiences for me even though I was always person giving the love. Then you could even further (getting into some inception stuff here, so bear with me!) and say that within the love I have for my family, for example, I experienced different kinds of love per family member. I love my Mom, and I love my Dad, but the relationship I share with each of them is so different, yet I use the same word love to cover both. I wondered if I had all these different versions of love in my own head, did everyone else have them too? Or even more so, did they all have their own individual versions of love?
After all of this thinking, I started to wonder if I was just making this up in my head and everyone outside of me had a common feeling of love that they felt for everyone and everything that they used the word towards. I set out to find out by asking just about everyone I could contact to finish the sentence “To me, love is ... ” There were no other instructions besides letting them know it could more than one word if they wanted it to be. I decided to ask people of all ages and geographies just to keep the playing field as even as possible. I got responses from people from 4 to more than 70 years old and from places across the U.S.as well as overseas, including Australia and Europe.
Some of the answers I got were what I expected, and some completely blew me away. Some answers were as short as one word, and some were so long I had to break them into two or three separate sentences.
In conclusion, I haven’t really come up with a conclusion, but I do know that not everyone necessarily defines and feels love the same way as the person next them. Unfortunately I cannot pry into everyone’s head and pull out how they feel for every person and thing in their lives, but this trend does lead me to believe that if there are such differences among people, there are also differences within people’s personal love, just as there is in mine. If love is not only different within ourselves but throughout people from, not only the U.S. but overseas as well, starting as young as 4 years old, then you have to ask, does that really make love universal? The word itself is universal, whether it’s spelled love, l’amour, amor or amore, it is used around the world, but every time it is used, its definition is relative to whoever is using the word. What does love mean to you?
Here are some of the responses I gathered:
To me, love is …
“ ... A connection between two people based on honesty, trust and care for one another. They may have different goals, but they strive for them with one another. “
“ ... A black sheep in a sea of white.”
“ ... The deepest unconditional form of caring about another person.”
“ ... The ability to care for others.”
“ ... A child’s hand in mine, in trust.”
“ ... Making someone else’s passion your passion.”
“ ... When my whole family is laughing at the dinner table.”
“ ... When you’re both so hot in bed asleep, facing opposite directions, but still holding hands in the middle.”
“ ... When you can pee with the door open.”
“ ... When a man and food have a special bond.”
“ ... Hearing another’s words. It is constant and unconditional.”
“ ... Feeling safe.”
“ ... The compassion and passion for one another strengthened through loyalty, trust and honesty.”
“ ... Pizza.”
“ ... Giving hugs and kisses and responsibility.”
“ ... Wanting to give somebody your last piece of extra crispy bacon because you know how much they would enjoy it.”
“ ... Passion, something or someone that makes you emotional, not analytical.”
“ ... Love is your soul’s recognition of its counterpart in another — Owen Wilson.”
“ ... Someone else doing your laundry.”
“ ... Trust.”
“ ... Wanting nothing but the best for that person.”
“ ... A battlefield.”
“ ... Unconditional acceptance of imperfections.”
“ ... Sacrifice.”
“ ... Knowing another person fully, accepting their flaws, encouraging their strengths and wanting their happiness over your own because that person is the world to you.”
“ ... Having the worst day of your life, then forgetting about every bad thing that happened because your person just smiled at you and everything became OK again.”
“ ... The most difficult, mind-blowing, euphoric, hair-pulling, rewarding gift that God has given us, where we grow as individuals and as partners, never knowing the next step, but always knowing that you’ll have your best friend by your side to take with you.”
“ ... True happiness when you’re made to forget all the things wrong in the world.”
“ ... Understanding.”
“ ... Being able to look into someone’s eyes and know what kind of day they are having.”
“ ... Not having to hide your farts.”
“ ... Giving them the last bite of food.”
“ ... Feeling peaceful watching my mom smile.”
“ ... When you are laughing with a group of people or person and realizing halfway through how much you enjoy their existence.”
“ ... When you are not afraid to show off the other person to the world.”
“ ... Being silly.”
“ ... Being able to be weird with someone else.”
“ ... Putting someone else’s needs ahead of your own.”
“ ... When your face hurts from your uncontrollable smiles.”
“ ... Missing someone or something only seconds after they are gone.”
“ ... Feeling something mere words cannot describe.”
“ ... When you can’t talk about it/them without smiling.”
“ ... When someone brings out the best in you and always encourages you to strive for your dreams.”
“ ... Never wanting to let go, always wanting just five more minutes.”
A big THANK YOU to everyone who put in their input to help me write this article, I appreciate it. You're the best!
