I was always a dreamer. A hopeless romantic in a herd of busy cynics. I believed that one day I'd meet the woman of my dreams, feel the love of the century. I learned countless love songs on the guitar enchanted by their passion and blind devotion. I reveled in the virtues of Hollywood's greatest love stories and history's most poetic sacrifices. Now, this does not mean I was trying to get married but an unrealistic view of relationships I certainly had. Then high school happened. I realized I may have to wait a bit longer to find someone interested in a committed relationship. But the people close to me assured me that if I got to college I'd be sure to find mature people looking for serious connections. Luckily, I met a decent amount of mature people once I got to college but they weren't interested in love either. After three years of searching and observing, I have concluded the most important research of my college career: Young love is obsolete. Oh yes, much like the Blackberry or Blockbuster the 21st century has proven no partner to our love lives. Swept away in a wave of Snapchats, Facetimes, and Ubers our interpersonal connections seem to have drowned in a sea of electronic connectivity. Romantic dates have been traded- in for impersonal hook ups. Commitment and honesty have been replaced with convenience and pleasure. While openness and sexuality seem to be surging I'm left to ask; What happened to love?

First, while I'm no guru, I hesitate to go any further without debunking the myth of "love". What is it? Scientifically, It's a release of chemicals who's end game is basically to make a kid and don't forget to feed it. Without the influence of religion or societal norms, it's hard to make a case for a group of chemicals in your brain gaining priority over your GPA. In today's age, men and women work...a lot. America is obsessed with academic and career achievement. A necessary evil when so much in our society is determined by how much we make. In the old days, when people were falling in "love" and settling into their predictable, post- war, nuclear families, the goal of having a committed relationship was much more realizable. Women had a lower standing in society; less likely to get a good job, very unlikely to get a promotion. Thus, it makes absolute sense that, in those days, a woman would need a man for fair income and a man would need a woman so his kids would not become feral. Eventually, women began to assert themselves and challenge their role in society. This led to women succeeding in the workplace and becoming powerful forces in fields once kept restricted to "men's work". While this was positive, a lot of people who tried to do as their parents and get married ended up getting divorced. At some point between marriage and divorce, those people had us: Millennials.

Enter 2016. It's quite possible that in a mere few months there will be a woman in the Oval Office. It's fair to say that both genders have been quite busy out in the professional field. It's also plain to see that people, at the same rate, are not rushing to the chapel anymore. And this is where I grind my ax with so-called "love". It appears to me that "love" only served to perpetuate a sexist society in which one partner was always left in the shadow of the other! And perhaps, for a time, it was. But, always the romantic, I don't believe love can be put away quite so simply. It's statistically evident that the old way of marriage has fallen out of favor. New ways of making sex like the hook- up culture or friends with benefits have become quite popular. Since people have less time these relationships provide companionship without the commitment. There are apps like Tinder where people can meet partners they find attractive, slide into their dm's and commence touching all without having to deal with each other. It may not be ideal, or very enduring, but it does prove that us millennials are pretty adaptable.

So then, where is love in 2016? Is it between two lovers sharing an Uber? Is it between you and that dreamy nursing major you think looks like Patrick Dempsey? Uncertain, indeed. What is certain is that there is still plenty of love in the songs I wrote for no one. There is plenty of love in the films and books that may have been based on a total fantasy. Perhaps in the absence of the traditional relationship, we can learn to express love in different ways. We can volunteer, help a stranger, or do something special for a friend. Maybe the most amazing thing about love isn't that it works or that we all find it. Maybe what's most amazing is that when we believe in it, we can do incredible things for one another. We devote ourselves to someone or a cause, without needing anything in return. That's why I'm saying goodbye to love as we knew it and welcoming whatever form it takes in our individualistic society.