Love — the Merriam Webster dictionary defines love as warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, Love is something that will be on the minds of most. In almost every store we enter, we’ll be bombarded with chocolates that say Love, cards that say Love, movies about Love, and signs and banners that read Love. But what really is love? I don’t know much about love, but when I started thinking about it, a lot more than just boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives came to mind.
I would define love as an amalgam of such qualities — warm attachment, enthusiasm, and devotion — but ultimately as the essence to a wonderful and successful life. Love manifests in us, animates us, and grounds our being. An efficacious life is one full of love. The ability to live life as a loving person and to look at all of the aspects of life and be able to truthfully say that you love each and every one of them resonates a truly full being.
What first comes to mind when one hears the word love is the love between two people. However, love is much more than that. Love is a stance you should take on every facet of your existence. A most fulfilling life is one filled with love — the love of oneself, the love of others, the love of ones family, the love of ones friends, the love of ones occupation, the love of ones surroundings, the general love of the life one lives, etc. Although finding love in all things is hard and may take some time, it is my resolute goal in life.
I consider myself a loving person and looking at my life currently, I can honestly say that I love many aspects of it. For example, I love my family, I love my friends, I love my school, etc. However, I can also honestly say that there are many aspects of my life that I do not love so much. It is an every day effort to learn to love the life I live. Every morning, I assess the things I do not love and make an effort to learn to love them today.
Loving oneself is the first step in a life of love. You need to learn how to love yourself fully before you can love anything or anyone else. After that, you can love all aspects of your life. I want to be a lover of all mankind. I want to develop my love of helping every group of people, regardless of class, gender, race, and religion. I want to learn to authentically love giving my time to serving others. In my existence so far, I recognize that I love the care and concern some people have for others. I also recognize the benevolence of people who go to tremendous lengths to help end poverty, hunger, species extinction, etc. These people have truly loving hearts. Loving people give off an aura of beauty that provokes happiness and self-assurance in the people around them. I hope to one day be recognized as a person with a heart filled with love. I hope that my love for life radiates off of me, helping lift the hearts of the people around me.
So this Valentine’s Day, it is important to remember that love isn’t just something that exists alongside the presence of a boyfriend or girlfriend. Love surrounds us in so many ways, and I’m so glad that human beings dedicate a day to celebrate it.
