Love has a rather lengthy entry at
dictionary.com. While I won't quote all of it, some of the more key definitions follow.
a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
sexual passion or desire.
to have love or affection for: All her pupils love her.
to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).
to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in: to love music.
to have love or affection for: All her pupils love her.
to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (another person).
to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in: to love music.
Trying to explain what love is to someone, is another matter entirely. Why do I love my wife, or my child, or an inanimate hunk of aluminum and aero engines? I don't suppose I could really say with any clarity.
It's one of those mysteries of life, I suppose. By necessity, or design, perhaps nature has it hardwired among all living things that "opposites attract". But again, what makes an opposite? At a base level, there's the male/female divide. But love is much more than that. There's love that contrasts....love that complements...and sometimes love that defies all explanation.
Our friends on the right, and the ultra-religious always try to define love in terms of pro-creation. But I believe that to be more a product of society. The physical act is, in all honesty, rather a quick thing that can be done by just about any animal without having any attachment to their 'partner'. Most animals reproduce with little or no contact with each other after 'the act' is complete...although some do form lasting pair-bonds.
It's only man that has turned it into a ritualized, lifelong pairing that needs to be codified and recognized by an authority, whether it's the church, the state, or something else.
Love of any kind should be accepted, and celebrated for what it is. The determination of two people that they have some mutual affection and want to build that into a life together is a wonderful thing.
I think the best categorization is something a long-ago member of Air America Place once said. Their name has since eluded me, but the statement has not.
"I fell in love with a person, not their anatomy."
Of course we all know
this happened yesterday.We should all be happy that Ms. Miller may have found love, and that has given her the courage to be true to herself and the rest of the world.
It's the rest of the world that still needs to catch up.
4 comments (Latest Comment: 08/15/2010 01:30:17 by livingonli)
