With this publication coming out on Valentine’s Day, it is more than necessary to talk about why love is great and the advancements the world has made in the category of love.
If the world is feeling heavy, especially on a day like Valentine’s Day, it is easy to forget that love is more than just a societal construct; it is a concept that overflows almost every single living organism on this planet and has outlasted recorded history.
To start, there have been some major wins for love recently around the world.
Thailand became the first Southeast Asian and third Asian country overall to legalize same-sex marriage, and on Jan. 23, hundreds of couples celebrated the occasion with a mass wedding.
The ceremony was hosted by a rights group named Naruemit Pride, which means “Creating Pride” when translated. The hall was filled with lovers old and young, gay and straight, to celebrate this massive victory for the country.
Despite the raging fires occurring in Southern California, many engaged couples are still finding ways to celebrate their marriages. Through the support of their communities, couples have been able to continue with their wedding plans by hosting their weddings in community spaces instead of the original wedding venues that had been chosen.
According to the New York Times, in light of the fires, many couples moved up their wedding dates in order to create a sense of community and be able to gather with loved ones in their times of need.
“My mom convinced us that people need some sort of outlet for community right now, and that’s how it felt,” said Nick Campell, one of the grooms interviewed for the New York Times.
Love can get you through the hard stuff.
Even when it is hard to be in love, it is the effort that makes it feel so wonderful. Love is still strong when a couple is fighting. It is present in the small jokes that are made to try and make the other person laugh during a serious discussion.
Love is also everywhere.
It finds itself in almost every aspect of life, creating a beneficial environment for us all.
We have found love in a plate of food on a day when everything seems to go wrong and a pick-me-up is needed. We have found love in the friendships we seem to create when we enter new spaces and in the awkward first conversations that will soon turn into inside jokes and conversations.
Love is even known to bring better physical and mental health, with benefits being linked to low blood pressure and greater life satisfaction.
But even with all the benefits, love can be overlooked and pushed into a stereotypical category. People say that they wish to be in a relationship—that it will “fix them” and that a lover is the only thing that is worth putting effort into.
But something that can be easily forgotten is that those same people can have friends, family and even pets that fill their lives with love.
Platonic love is the first thing we learn as children. Phrases like “Always treat others how you want to be treated” and “Love thy neighbor” have been ingrained into our minds for good reason. The love we feel in life is not always defined by relationship status, popularity or where we fall on the social ladder. It is defined by personal growth and the joy we feel in our communities.
If anything, I want the takeaway from this article to be that love is complex, and that it can show up as empathy or passion, but also as friendship and loyalty, tenderness and appreciation.
Allison Cannon is a first year double-majoring in psychology and studio art, minoring in Spanish.
Featured image courtesy of Isabella Da Silva.
