2008 Woodie Awards
Love is ...
Notes from the island
Jake Meany
Issue date: 10/30/06 Section: Opinion
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"I met in the street a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat was threadbare-there were holes at his elbows, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul"-Victor Hugo.
Love is…As I sit at my computer I find myself trying to finish a sentence that centuries of poets, thinkers, and writers have all tried, usually unsuccessful to complete.
What does love mean?
What does love in college mean?
Is it impossible to define?
I imagine love as the multiple strands on a rope, each different, but unified by a common theme. That theme seems to be a profound sense of completeness. A feeling that we have found a piece of ourselves in some external point, knowing ourselves through interacting with others.
In college, we as students are told this where we are going to challenge ourselves, and we begin to piece together the puzzle that is our individual awareness.
But, then most of us also want to find someone. A recent study of college students found that 96% wanted to find love in college and 97% wanted to get married at some time in their lives. It seems odd that at a time where we are still figuring out who we are, we are looking for that someone who can make us "feel like ourselves."
The fervent desire to be known and appreciated by someone else is how human beings were designed in the first place. And it doesn't help that it seems that the media portrayal of relationships presents unrealistic expectations about what romantic love is.
The most popular form of intimacy is "hooking up." But this is more a "you get yours, I get mine" understanding that rarely does not lead to complications for one or both parties. And I am not trying to equate a one-night stand to love, but there is a similar desire, the desire to feel wanted, to feel the attention and connection from someone else.
It seems we as an age group are growing up in a world without social rules. The etiquette and courtship rituals don't exist anymore. There is no formal procedure or arena for us to engage others romantically. And no, speed dating does not count. We are also living in a world that is disconnected from real intimacy.
Love is…As I sit at my computer I find myself trying to finish a sentence that centuries of poets, thinkers, and writers have all tried, usually unsuccessful to complete.
What does love mean?
What does love in college mean?
Is it impossible to define?
I imagine love as the multiple strands on a rope, each different, but unified by a common theme. That theme seems to be a profound sense of completeness. A feeling that we have found a piece of ourselves in some external point, knowing ourselves through interacting with others.
In college, we as students are told this where we are going to challenge ourselves, and we begin to piece together the puzzle that is our individual awareness.
But, then most of us also want to find someone. A recent study of college students found that 96% wanted to find love in college and 97% wanted to get married at some time in their lives. It seems odd that at a time where we are still figuring out who we are, we are looking for that someone who can make us "feel like ourselves."
The fervent desire to be known and appreciated by someone else is how human beings were designed in the first place. And it doesn't help that it seems that the media portrayal of relationships presents unrealistic expectations about what romantic love is.
The most popular form of intimacy is "hooking up." But this is more a "you get yours, I get mine" understanding that rarely does not lead to complications for one or both parties. And I am not trying to equate a one-night stand to love, but there is a similar desire, the desire to feel wanted, to feel the attention and connection from someone else.
It seems we as an age group are growing up in a world without social rules. The etiquette and courtship rituals don't exist anymore. There is no formal procedure or arena for us to engage others romantically. And no, speed dating does not count. We are also living in a world that is disconnected from real intimacy.
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