I think that love is the power that drives all things, as it is found in all that one does. I also think that you are not born with love. Like trust, it is something that you gain and lose. There are different types of love, and different factors that go into the big picture of what we consider to be love, and these all shape humans to be individuals and not cookie-cutter beings.

Different people have "love" for different things, be it for money, for power, for intimacy, for family, for evil, ect,. Personally, what drives me is my love of family. My main goal in life, the reason I strive to do my best every day is to obtain that cliché, “family sitting down to eat at the dinner table” scene. I truly believe my main reason for being here on this earth is to carry and mother children. I don’t believe I have a purpose bigger than that. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to express a lack of self-esteem or to set feminism back, I just think that, for me personally, maintaining a loving family is the greatest goal I can have. With that being said, that doesn’t mean I cannot achieve great things along the way. I have other goals,: I would like to become a math teacher and publish a novel as well, but overall, making money and gaining recognition would mean nothing to me if I didn’t have a family to share it with.

I think my love for the idea of a united family most likely comes from my parents. When I was conceived, my young, teen parents had decided to get married in order to solve any problems they may have had. My mother had a problem with substance abuse in her adolescent years, and it ended up following her into adulthood. When I was about three, my parents divorced, and my father was given custody of me and my younger brother. I haven’t gotten to see my mother much after that unless it was on a weekend here and there every few years or so. Because of this, my mother and I began to grow apart, and she became less of a mom to me, and more of a stranger. The love between her and I was lost, and although no one really filled that mothering role, I still have the utmost love and respect for the other women in my life who have tried. I feel as though losing love for someone is an odd concept. How could one possibly see the woman who conceived and carried them for almost a year, went through strenuous, painful labor, and held them in her nurturing arms, as a complete and total stranger? How is it even comprehensible that everything you love about someone, from their laugh and their crooked smile to the way they comb their hair, all the little quirks that you were once enthralled by, can slowly become the annoyances that irk you, and leave pits in your stomach. The idea of falling out of love, be it romantic love, love for a family, or even a passion for hobby, is so frightening. With love comes hardships, it is nearly inevitable.

The question that needs to be asked is, “is love worth it?” Are you always guaranteed to get your heart broken, and if so, is the immense bliss from being in love worth the trauma that may follow? In Geoffrey’s case, the way he felt for Giselle, was it worth suffering through her betrayal? Often times it doesn’t seem so, because heartbreaks destroy every last bit of self-confidence and esteem in the body, leaving what feels like an empty shell. So, knowing that this is a possibility, why suffer through it? Because love drives all things. Love is in everything, and everything is influenced by love. Just because one finds love in one thing, does not mean all their love is gone and shattered. Since there are multiple types, your love is distributed to different things, so while one’s romantic love is healing, their family love and passions are still intact. They still find happiness in other things in their lives. I think it is important to continue to realize that love is the greatest of all things, and to let it drive you where you are meant to be.