Today I thought we might talk about love — what’s it all about? At this time of year, with the holidays and all the out-of-mind busy-ness that we seem to get into — I thought it might be good to take time out and talk about a subject that we all…well, that we all love. Love.
It seems to me that there’s all sorts of different kinds of love. There’s the obvious kind — the kind that we all write about. The love of a man and a woman, the love of family, the love of children. May this love always flourish and prosper in our society — I only say that because, if you go back in the blogs, you might discovere that I believe that the family is under attack.
But let’s have a look at other kinds of love. 
How about the love between friends? That’s love, too, isn’t it? Of course it is. I know you’ll all agree that we would, indeed, be strange beings if we didn’t have a close circle of friends that we love with all our hearts. But it’s different kind of love, right? But I think you might agree that it doesn’t make it any less a deep and abiding love.
There’s also the love for mankind in general — the love of those in other parts of the world that might be having a difficult time. And how about the love we have for other life forms? Our pets, for instance. That’s definitely love, as well. 
So love. If I were to define love, I’d have to say that it seems to me that it is an intense feeling of admiration directed toward someone or something. It doesn’t ask for anything, it is either freely given or it’s not really love. It’s not a dominating or controlling force — wouldn’t you agree? Isn’t it more of a giving force? Isn’t it a sharing, a wanting to contribute to the other person? To share and enhance their ideas and their life?
So if I might be so bold, I’d love to hear your ideas about love. What is it to you? What makes it most likely the most sought after emotion in our world? So come on in and join our discussion today as we look at love, that thing that makes the world go ’round.
In closing I’d I have to share another picture of the man I admire so very, very much…my husband. 
So again, come on in and tell me about your loves!
I see love in this way….to me it is like a precious gemstone. A gemstone has many facets just as love does. whether it be love for friends, love for a pet(s), for a spouse or lover, for family…each is a different facet to our lives and none can be complete with out the other or it is flawed and not that perfect gemstone.ONe must have love and one must give it…i believe you must love unconditionally or it makes that gemstone worthless and again flawed. Dont we all want that flawless gemstone of love in our lives?
Perhaps my views seem silly or whatever but that i how i view it. Just like Love each person in this world is like a gemstone as well….many facets to their personality.Let yourself sparkle like one by giving love and being abel to recieve it in the way it is intended.
Dear Karen,
I loved this post. I think as we grow older, our friendships go beyond being friends to something deeper. And you may not be aware of it, until an illness or accident occurs and you realize how precious life is and how dear your friends are. This is how I feel about my close friends. I truly love them and wish them years of happiness and health. They have become like family and will always be in my life.
Of course, I love my husband and kids to distraction, but even that love has grown and changed over the years. It’s an evolution of feelings for me.
Wow, Bethlynn, your comment reads like poetry. Love and gems, flawed but still beautiful.
What this post made me think of is an old saying, “Home is a place where, if you have to go there, they have to let you in.”
I always liked that. The love in a family is so different than any other kind. Brothers and sisters, I mean there may be squabbles and tension but it’s almost always with a foundation of love that is almost against your will, without choice.
Which makes it so strong and such a great launching pad for comedy because of course brothers and sisters and parents can treat each other in the most appalling way and it’s all still love.
Morning Karen!
To me, love is a representation of all that is truly good in this world. It’s the glue that holds us together.
It’s the guidance and protection of your parents. The connection you have with siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins. It’s the wisdom and history passed down from our grandparents and those before them.
It’s the companionship and intimacy you have with a partner or significant other(when dating and once you’re married). It’s the utter adoration of your children as well as our own instincts to guide and protect them, as our parents did for us.
It’s the friendship with have with others, our best friends, the ones with whom we can offer or receive a shoulder when we need one to cry on. They are like extended family, brought into our circle and welcomed with our whole hearts. They’re there for the joys and problems we go through, showing support and kindness, and understanding. Sometimes they can shed light where there is darkness when we can’t seem to find our way.
Our pets, who tend to give us love when we’re feeling low. They can’t speak to us or offer words of comfort, but when your dog lays at your feet or your cat curls up on your lap when you need a calming presence, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we might not “speak” the same language, but our pets “know” us and they know when we need them. They give us love when we feel alone or lost.
Love is companionship in all it’s forms and it’s a great gift to be able to love and give of yourself to others and it’s also wonderful to receive it in return from others.
I think that’s why it so sought after. It’s an emotion that makes us feel happy, that lifts our spirits and helps keep hope and faith in the goodness of others alive. It’s a basic human desire, the longing to love and be loved. Love is good and I think all of us want “good” in our lives.
Hi Karen. To me, love equals commitment. If you truly love someone or some thing, you are committed to them or it, through thick and thin, good times and bad. This is what I see missing more and more as the years go by. How many people enter marriage these days with the idea of truly making it last a lifetime? Our modern times make it easier to just walk away when the going gets tough. I see people turning away from their spouses, parents, and even their own children because the commitment has become “inconvenient.”
I agree with you about the family being under attack. I think it’s because people don’t need each other to survive the way they used to. The word “love” is tossed around like confetti these days, until I think it’s lost most of its meaning. My own son “loves” every girl he has dated — at least that’s what I overhear him tell them on the phone. (no I wasn’t eavesdropping
)
Anyway. Love, to me, is for the long haul. It’s caring enough to stay with someone no matter how tough it may get. Surviving the rough patches is what makes us strong, and I see way too many people out there dependent on drugs to help them cope with their daily grind –anti-depressants to get them through the day, then sleep aids to get them through the night. We’ve become a society of weak vessels.
Wow, I got preachy. Sorry.
Love IS having to say your sorry and working through it. Love is unselfish. Real love can stand up under stress. Love can give you a sense of rightness with the world like nothing else.
Now I’m down off my soapbox. Hope you all have a great day.
Hi Kay, good thoughtful post. I’ve got a baby grandson now, and the love I have for him is like nothing I’ve ever felt before…I guess because he’s my “future.” I have really enjoyed everybody’s beautiful, heart-felt and poetic words today.
Hi Beth!
Your views are extremely intelligent and yet full of feeling, as well. I so agree with you. And I love your comparison of love to a gemstone.
Thanks so much for your viewpoints, Beth. Nice to see you here on the forums. : )
Hi Charlene!
I, too, have come to love my friends very much– perhaps that simply part of really growing up. Of course, like you, I love my husband and my children intensely — and I’m sure that’s how nature intended it — but I find as I grow older, that my loves extend to more and more different forms of life. Life is, after all life — be it plant, animal or human — I guess loving ones fellow humans can help all life, because it is our species, after all, that can help all life.
Thanks for your thoughts, Charlene.
Hi Mary!
Thank you so much for your post, as well. Like you, I think Beths analogy is incredible.
Kay, you’ve blogged about a timeless subject that transcends common definition. I think true love is something that has to be felt in our bones. It’s deep and lasting and becomes a part of us that no one can ever take away. I believe love (our mate, family, pets, etc.) completes us. We definitely know when we find our soul mate and we know that love will continue even in death. It’s a feeling unlike any other, but the word love has certainly been watered down by the shallowness of people. Hollywood has thrown the word around like it’s confetti.
Great subject and excellent post!
Dear Taryn,
What a wise, wise post this is. I agree with everything that you have written. Very thought provoking.
You know, in Iroquois culture, the sachems — their representatives in their government — were always tempered by their women. The thought was that the women — being closer to the earth — are more aware of what it takes to not only bring life into the world, but to raise it — therefore it was thought that women bring the heart to the men — while men might be quick to war — not so the women.
Your post reminds me of this kind of wisdom. Thank you!
Hi Devon!
You brought up some wonderful points. Yes, love is the long haul — today people don’t seem to want to continue to work through it — certainly there may be a couple here or there that is incompatible — but I truly think they are few.
Don’t really agree with you on the anti-depressants as these have now been proven to have some devastating side-effects — for me, it would be a natural approach.
Wonderful and insightful thought. Thank you so very much.
Hi Tanya!
I so agree with you! What insightful posts we’ve had today. Very, very beautiful. It does remind me that we women are needed more and more in the world in order to bring sanity back into the “male” view that is quick to war. Again, another Iroquois viewpoint.
Have a wonderful day!
Hi Linda!
Again, I am reminded of how wise we females are and how much we are needed in our world today. You are so right. Love is bone-deep. And love completes us. Two halves becoming one.
And as we get older, it seems it becomes twenty parts becoming whole. Thanks so much for our insight. We have some real wisdom here.
Kay, I totally love the Iroquois. Not many know that the U.S. Constitution was based on theirs! (other than the women part as we all know!)
Oh, Karen. I didn’t mean to give the impression that I advocated anti-depressants. Just the opposite in fact. And I’m always so behind the times, I have no idea about the side effects. All I know is that too many people depend on something (whatever the drug might be) to get them through the day. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
)
Dear Kay,
Wow, Love is such a deep word, and so many feelings or expressions. I would like to share one of my expressions with everyone. I wrote this at a time when I was looking for love and was lost.
Sight Of An Eagle
I am an Eagle….Bird of Prey
never wanting to end this day
I soar the skies… ah so bright
For that special one…. who is just right!
With these eyes….full of wisdom
I look through out this beautiful Kingdom
Searching for someone just like you
seeking to know who and what you do!
“You”….are the treasure I seek, you know
When I spread my wings…Oh, how you make me flow
You know my beauty from deep within
Always remember where we have been!
And if you should come upon a feather
Pick it up, Use it as a symbol, read it like a letter
Feel my love…’cause of me, its a part
Know that it is the “Key” that opens my Heart!
Make a wish…. for your dreams are mine
Never leave me….too far behiind
Take this feather as a gift of flight
And let us soar always together in delight!
Remember everyone, that love can be given in many different ways but one has to love one’s self before love can ever be accepted or truely felt.
Nance
Beautiful and thoughtful blog, Kay.
I was trying to think of a comment all the way through the posts, and realized that my own beliefs had already been expressed, especially by Taryn. I believe that love is the literal glue that holds the universe together–that it is a real eternal force. Having lost people who were near and dear to me, I know from experience that after the physical body is gone the love remains, and that it never goes away. I have no answers to life’s questions, but I like to think that we are here to strengthen the force of love everywhere–to succeed in that is to live a meaningful life.
Hi Tanya!
I love the Iroquois, as well. As I learn more and more about them, I am coming to respect them more and more. There’s very few equivalents in the world to compare with the Peacemaker and Hiawatha — where else in the world did two men get together to establish a government that would abolish war and provide a means for peace WITHOUT taking away each person’s individual God-given rights? I can think of only a couple. : )
Oh, okay, Devon — thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, like you I think too many people are dependent on things that perhaps we could do without! Thanks for taking the time to make that clear to me. : ) I love you for it!
Oh, Nance, how beautiful! Oh, my goodness, truly beautiful. And thank you for coming to the blog today to share that with us all. The eagle — what a symbol of power and of love — as well as peace. No wonder it was the symbol of unity for the Iroquois, and became our own National symbol.
Beautiful!
Good Evening Elizabeth!
Thank you so much for your insights and thoughts on this. What a beautiful way you have of expressing yourself and I truly agree with you. Love is the force that holds this world together. I’m not sure why we’re here, either — perhaps to help others as best we can. But without love, I think it would all be rather pointless.
Thank you again!