Love is one word that holds so much weight but has been underused, overused and bastardized all at the same time that people don’t know its real worth. When you see a car, you know the worth of that car; if you go to a furniture store, you would be given a catalogue with the prices of each advertised there; so how come we know the right value to place on almost everything but we come to a standstill when it comes to love?
The Webster defines love as a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person— this definition is fair enough but I think it goes just beyond this. What puzzles me is the way the word has been bastardized that the real measure of love is often being underrated. The gigolo uses the word love like he means it, the gold-digger uses the word with absolute confidence and assurance that you would never see, the man who just wants to get in a lady’s pants would most assuredly use that same word and even the lady who only wants a man for selfish reasons too uses love as a hiding place.
Many have said they don’t believe in love, they don’t believe it exists and they don’t think someone can just love another person (who isn’t family) for any genuine reason; they believe there is always an attachment that comes with love or that love comes at a price. You wouldn’t blame anyone for making such a bold statement because to that person the measure of love haven’t been felt and so they are unsure as to who and what to believe.
Johann Wolfgang had something to say about the real measure of love: “This is the true measure of love; when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will ever love in the same way after us.”
What has made so many fall astray to what the real measure of love really is, is when they are carried away with mere words rather than action; but still so many have been carried away with action as well, as people now easily fake their feelings and actions when they know that deep within them, they have nothing about love to offer.
The real measure of love comes in every smile, every kiss, every sacrifice, every word, thoughts and actions. The real measure of love isn’t self-centred, it isn’t there for selfish reasons and I believe if we can look beyond the artificial and stare deep into our souls, we can recognise the real measure of love just like the catalogue in a furniture store. With this, we would recognise the real measure of love just as the Goldsmith recognises the real worth of gold.
The real measure of love is found when we love without measure.
Shawn