Philosophy Paper on Love.

What is love exactly? Is it just being with the person you care about the most or is

it really something complicated and intricate? You would be amazed with how much this

four letter could mean and how much it could affect your life. I believe love is an

affection, an attraction, someone you cannot live without, a value for the person. If you

don't start off with something like this, then what will you end up with? But then again

love isn't just about the zeal you have for someone but about how to make it work and

keep that spark alive, and about learning to love yourself before you can love others.

One kind of view of love is the value for a person and the understanding of

valuing that person. Understanding love to be primarily a matter of acknowledging and

responding in an extraordinary way to the value of the beloved. I have seen my dad value

my mom and vice versa in ways which I believe to be phenomenal. Through this I have

really understand that love is value. My parents have been married for twenty five

years, and have been through many tests. One test was when my father first moved to

America from the Philippines, my mom waited six years for him to set a stable life style

in the United States. In addition, another test that they are undergoing is that my father

works in New York, while my mom lives in North Carolina. This allows them only to see

each other a couple times a month but their love for each is still there. This

value that they hold between them through difficult times like these make their love

stronger with each day and each challenge.

Another classification of love is having that mutual attraction for each other, like

one magnet attracts with a great deal of force to the other. You can compare love to this

analogy quite fully; without the force of attraction in between you and your love would

fall apart. This so-called attraction between two people can also be characterized as

romantic love. Romantic love is considered to be more abstract and ethically connected

then the sexual and psychical connection. I believe things such as giving up a kidney or

going to save your loved one from a burning building could be examples of what this

romantic love could be. This love is considered to me as an expression of avocation

towards your loved one, this can be articulated through words, poetry, or music.

Love can be expressed through a behavior such as being able to give up things that mean

so much to you, but seeing it as that it's not only yours but also his/hers, as in the saying

Mi Casa Es Su Casa (my home is your home.) This love is a contemplation of an

emotional but also internal feeling to the contrary of a physical charge.

The last aspect of love, I believe is not only having that emotion of being in love but

the ability to keep it alive and making things work. Love is defined in many ways and

terms, but one thing for certain is that love is hard to maintain. I believe that love is not

only having the desire of a "significant other" but also an adventure where you must keep

the emotion alive and be willing to compromise. Love is a difficult emotion to understand

and sometimes very hard to work with, but if you are willing to compromise and are able

work at the hardships and emotional roller coaster rides of love things will be at

ease.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record

of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always

protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)."

This quote from the bible clearly describes love as a person because it is us people whom

experience love. We must learn to cherish this love more, fight it, and most importantly

we must learn to coupe with love. Love is a very complex concept to grasp that's why it

deserves our utmost attention. Love, you cannot live without it.