Back in high school, I watched the movie "Made of Honor" starring Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan. Despite not being the best chick flick ever as its pretty cliché and stuff, it is one of those movies with a happy ending that just leads you feeling satisfied afterwards. Well, at least for me. So right after I watched it, I told one of my friends to watch it too and he said immediately that I was what Dempsey's character described Monaghan's character as, an "'I love you' slut." At first, I was extremely appalled by the fact that he called me an "'I love you' slut" because I didn't think that was me at all. I just kept thinking on how to prove him wrong and show that I don't say that line simply to anyone, that I was not an "'I love you' slut."
Fast forward a couple years, I've basically forgotten about the whole incident until recently, one of my classes reminded me of it. We were discussing the most important value that each individual holds for themselves. For some reason, this incident came up except instead of focusing on the derogatory term "slut" behind what my friend called me, I just thought of the phrase "I love you." First of all, I realized that I do say it a lot. I obviously say it to my family, I say it to a lot of my friends, and please, I've probably said it way too many times to random dogs on the streets. However, I am well aware of the deeper connotation that "I love you" holds, especially if you say it to a significant others. And obviously, I'm well aware of that, but many would argue that with the amount of times I say "I love you" I don't understand just how meaningful and serious that phrase can be. But frankly, I've never felt limited towards how many people I can actually say "I love you" to because I do. I do love every single one of them.
I guess I can call myself optimistic or naive, that despite the differences I share with other people, no matter how much a person can piss me off, I've grown to believe in the concept of loving them unconditionally. It sounds absolutely ridiculous because there is no way that I can possibly ever not have negative thoughts about an individual, but I try to look past them. That despite their faults, they ultimately still are a wonderful and beautiful person. You learn to love them, unconditionally.
So being called an "'I love you' slut"? Sure, I definitely don't need to say it out loud to people around me, but I'm proud to be one because I might as well be open to loving the people that I have the pleasure of interacting and knowing.
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8)
