What is Love? by Madison

What is Love? by Madison - July 2017 Scholarship Essay

There are many kinds of love. I believe love is putting someone else’s needs and happiness above your own. It's buying them a cup of coffee and surprising them in the mornings because you know that they won’t be able to function properly without it. Love is not pushing anything on your significant other because you don’t want them to be uncomfortable. It’s being genuine towards them and about them. Love is like coming home from a long trip. Love is feeling safe and comfortable with someone, but still getting weak in the knees when they walk into a room and smile at you.
In the Bible, God gave his only son and that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). In biblical times, different kinds of loves were described in Greek terms. Phileo love is the brotherly kind of love. The kind that you feel for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Eros is the type of love that is purely sexual and physical. Stergien love is that family love, the kind you have towards your actual siblings or aunts and uncles. The most important love is agape love, or the highest of loves that comes directly from God Himself.
Even the bible states there are different kinds of love, and some have trouble finding or feeling love. 1 Corinthians is known as the love chapter of the Bible. In literature, love is portrayed to the extremes. Romeo and Juliet for example, they loved each other instantly; love at first sight. They were concerned with how their families would react. So, one faked their death and the other killed themselves. Jay Gatsby did everything in his power to keep Daisy in his sights and in his life somehow. Love can be shown in simple and complex ways.
Love is not animosity, dislike, or neglect. It isn’t disloyalty, apathy, or misery. Love isn’t pain or abuse, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. If someone really loves you, they won’t neglect you. Love isn’t ownership, codependence, or disrespectful. You are not a trophy or a prize to be won; you are your own person. You can live without them, you’ve done it before you met them and you can do it again even though you may not want to. You are more than the negative things they might say, you are more than the lowest piece of dirt that they make you feel like. Love does not pressure or condescend. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
Robert Sternberg’s theory of love, or the Triangular Theory of Love, states that there are three components of love; intimacy, passion, and commitment. Intimacy is the feeling of attachment or closeness. The fiery depth and intense feeling when you like someone is known as passion. Commitment is what brings and ties the two together and decide whether the relationship should be long term or short term. With just intimacy, you have a liking relationship. With communication only, it’s an empty love. With only passion, the relationship is just infatuation. Some people are comfortable with those kinds of love while others search for more. Such as romantic love, that of which contains both passion and intimacy, fatuous love where passion and commitment are combined, and companionate love with intimacy and commitment. The saying “communication is key” goes without saying, to be true. Sternberg said, “Without love, even the greatest love can die.”
Love has lost its fire and luster; it doesn’t seem as important anymore. Some people say is overrated, unrealistic, and is taken for granted. Nowadays, most humans are in love with the idea of love instead of trying to be in love. Although, there are still some hopeless romantics in today’s society that help keep the world spinning.