Students attempt to define love
The meanings and feelings
associated with love are not
always that easy to describe
Ali Shaughnessy
Freelance Reporter
“Love comforteth like sunshine af
ter rain,” William Shakespeare said.
“All you need is love,” John
Lennon said.
“Love is never having to say ‘I
Love You,’” Brak from Space
Ghost said.
Love is an age-old concept filled
with hearts, flowers and chocolates.
It could be a feeling, a song or a
dance. But what does love mean to
college students?
“That’s a hard question,” Univer
sity freshman Ashlee Garcia said.
“To love someone is to listen to
them and be their friend and always
be there for them.”
It varies from situation to situation.
“(To love someone is) to be a
more complete person for it,” junior
Aidan Holpuch said.
It is unconditional.
“You depend on them, and you can
count on them regardless of what you
do,” junior Greg Barkett said.
It is the driving force of life.
“Without it, you can’t live,”
Finnish exchange student Heidi Ala
joki said. “There is a closeness, a
warmth. All the people you love ...
your family, God. Everyone’s deep
est desire is to feel loved.”
Students say there is a difference
between loving someone and being
in love with someone.
Sophomore Lauren Chan’s idea of
love is “caring about someone more
then you care about yourself.” She
said the difference between loving
Sofneone and being in love with
someone is that being in love entails
becoming emotionally involved on a
much deeper level.
“(Being in love) goes along with
love, but pushes it further ... the
person becomes emotionally in
grained in your life,” she said.
Freshman Alex Crowder feels
that in order to be in love with
someone, “You have to be content
with yourself.
“You have to love yourself before
you can have that bursting loving
feeling for someone else,” she said.
That “bursting loving feeling”
makes love energizing.
“(Love is) a force and energy
that is infinite and expands as you
interact with the world and people
with a mutual respect,” Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer
Alliance Issues Coordinator Suzi
Steffen said.
Love is ultimately people’s link to
other human beings.
“(It is) something genderless, a
really strong connection you feel to
another human being,” University
student Kathlene McGraw said.
Senior Nilda Brooklyn agrees.
“It’s someone who can laugh at all
of your jokes ... even when they’re
not funny,” she said.
For others, love can be described
as what they’ve seen in movies or
on television.
“Love is when Thumper is all
flustered in ‘Bambi,’” University stu
dent Gregory Campbell said. “It’s
when you become a raging doofus,
but you don’t mind because you
love someone so much.”
Ali Shaughnessy is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
Jessica Waters for the Emerald
Jacob Craven and Tia Loyd show the meaning of love, which is hard to define.
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