What is Love? by Brooke

What is Love? by Brooke - March 2017 Scholarship Essay

In my living room is a rocking chair. It is an old chair, worn and creaky. Most people who walk through the room pass it by nonchalantly, just thinking of it as an old chair that the cats constantly cover with their unbelievable amount of loose fur. But what they do not realize it is that it is more than just a scratched up chair. This sad old chair was where my mom rocked my brother night after night when he couldn’t sleep. It is where my mom held me and my sister tight close to her when we were sick or scared. It is a chair that has held our family. It is a chair that shows the true definition of love. Love is no longer just, “I love you more” fights. The simple items that may have so much meaning to one person may have a completely different meaning to another. Love is more tangible than anything. It is based on the perspective of a person. You might just see a rickety chair, but I see the love that is my past.
What is it about those plain objects so dear to us that make us so capable of such a high degree of emotions? Is it the story behind them? The person? It is hard to tell unless you own one of these kinds of items. For example, survivors or families of those lost in 9/11 own objects that have significant meaning to them but not to others. To some, those objects may just be a chain of keys, an old I.D. card, or even a beat up firefighter helmet. But they are actually a father’s office keys, a husband’s driver’s license, and a man’s sign of heroism and bravery. No one would understand the incredible importance of these items or the emotions they are responsible for except the owners of them. They feel the sadness, remembrance, gratefulness, love. For anyone else, they are just rusty old keys that would leave the fetid metal scent on their hands, a scratched up license that has exceeded its expiration date, and a helmet that is in desperate need of a good cleaning. Whether it is the person or the back story, it is the point of view of the person owning an object that makes it worthy of that much love.
Now, think of something in your life that you love unconditionally. Once you have it in your mind, think about the history of this item; how it came to be such a substantial part of who you are or just why it has this great significance. Would anyone else feel the same way about that item as you? Could anyone ever appreciate or love that item as much as you do? More often than not, that answer is a no. This is because everyone’s point of view is different. In 2003, my father was deployed overseas to Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Before he left, he gave me and my sister giant teddy bears to hug when we missed him. We call them our “Daddy Bears”, and to this day, they still mean the world to us. A girl might see it and think about how they wish their boyfriend would buy them a teddy bear that big for Valentine’s Day. Or a boy might think that I need to get rid of my stuffed animals because I am an eighteen-year old girl… The point is, when my sister and I look at these bears, we see our love we have for our dad and the long months that we spent without him. But that is only our perspective. That is what’s important. Everyone else might see something completely worthless, but to you, that object is part of your life and your heart.
Love can take on many different forms. It isn’t just tangible. It is also the feeling of the word “love” no longer being able to describe how you feel, or the feeling of having a wonderful dream, when in reality, you’re living that dream. Having a special connection to someone or something is what makes love what it is. You see a chair, I see my past. You see a stuffed bear, I see my dad. No matter the form that love takes, it is based on the perspective one sees it, whether it is your high school sweetheart or even an item from the remains of the World Trade Center. There are hundreds of different ways to say “I love you”, but nothing beats an unmatchable connection that means so much to a person on hundreds of different levels. Do you remember that item I told you to think about earlier? Never forget the importance of that item. Depending on its significance, it may play a huge role in who you are as a person or maybe it just puts a smile on your face each morning. Either way, a love like that should never be lost.