Searching
for Love
Anna O'Malley
Loreto Secondary, Foxrock
I thought I didn't know what
love was. Love was something I always sought in a fickle fashion. Love
was romantic, passionate and life changing. Love was something that would
fill the void all of us feel from time to time. I never realised that
all along I was searching for the wrong type of love. Now I know that
love is much greater than just the complexity of emotions felt by courting
couples. Love completes you!
The average teenager is bombarded
with wistful images of unimaginable love everyday. Music, an influential
medium, portrays young couples willing to do anything for each other.
The hurt and heartache after a break up are viewed as such intense emotions
that adolescents even yearn to fall out of love. This type of 'mushroom
love' is escapism and can only provide temporary fulfilment. This 'fulfilment'
may also be impossible to achieve and the long treacherous road to romantic
love is never smooth.
Some people do fall in love
easily but they are in the minority. Most people will play the infamous
'dating game'. This 'game' is tiring, monotonous and even vicious. One
can feel irritable, depressed and even suicidal on this endless quest.
It seems ironic that on the mission for romantic love one can forget about
the eternal love already present.
One forgets about the daily
love experienced. Love can be that someone that always listens. Love is
that person who always knows what to say and what not to say. Love is
a feeling of appreciation and respect that someone may show you. We feel
empty without romantic love because, unlike platonic love, it is sometimes
unobtainable. We may have to live forever without romantic love. One must
cherish every other love because without love there would be more than
a romantic void; there would be nothing.
Sometimes we can't fall in
love with anyone because we don't love ourselves. We see our own imperfections
as barriers to be loved. The truth is our obsession with our lack of self-worth
is our only barrier to be loved. No one is perfect but it's the acceptance
of our own imperfections and that of other's that is true love.
I've searched for love. I've
searched for love and I found it in the strangest places. I found love
at home having dinner with my family; I found it in my best friend's smile.
I found love when I stopped looking for continuous romantic involvement
with little substance and even less endurance. I can't explain what love
is because it's different for everyone. I only know that love is as individual
as we are. Love of any type would 'conquer all' if only we realised its
presence in all our lives. Searching for love is like fighting for peace;
the paradox is that we're losing the very thing we are pursuing. So I
put down my map and return down the road back to me. I find in me the
person I had forgotten and the love I thought I never had.
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