Oh love, the eternal source of inspiration…(well sometimes even frustration).
We all love love. How couldn’t we, it’s the main spice of life, giving flavor and colors to our days and layers to our everyday experiences. Love is undoubtedly the great part and maybe one of the most important aspects of the human condition.
There are surely different kinds of love. You love your parents, partners, kids, friends, pets, etc. Essentially, every kind of love means devotion and selflessness in giving yourself to make someone happy.
You will find so many opinions on what love is, but they all come down to the idea that love is compassion and affection, towards others, or even yourself.
If you search for definitions of love, you might stumble upon a YouTube video where they asked people from ages 0 to 100 what love is. These thoughts on love and explanations of what it means to them will amaze you.
For kids love is simple
In a video posted on a channel called SoulPancake, a 10-year-old boy was not sure of what love is, and admitted he is not able to answer the question. On the other hand, a cheerful 5-year-old girl’s thoughts on love were as simple as love is:
“It means you love somebody.”
Teenagers believe it’s complicated
Love can be a confusing feeling when you are a teenager. When you hear a 14-year-old boy say that love “is a complicated thing”, you remember yourself at his age and deeply sympathize with his perspective.
Older teenagers are discovering different shapes of love and they might get the idea that love is:
“being able to do something for somebody else, that maybe you wouldn’t normally do.” (girl, 17)
You must admit this comparison of loving and being in love, brought a smile to your face:
“…I’d rather love someone than be in love with someone because being in love with someone implies that you can fall out of it.” (boy, 19)
Young adults make a clear point
When you survive your teenage years, at 23 you begin to see things more clearly as this girl:
“… if you see them as a family, then that’s love.”
Colors of love brighten up adult life
Adult’s statements on what love means to them will surely warm-up your heart. One of them underlined an altruistic element of every love:
“… condition of a state where the happiness of another is essential to one’s own” (man, 63)
You might not agree with the statement of a 59-year-old woman. Being ready to apologize is a key to maintaining healthy relationships in life.
“… love means never having to say you’re sorry.” (woman, 59)
Funny insight made by a 35-year-old man boils down this noble emotion to a simple trading goal. On a certain level love truly is an exchange, but, I would add, it’s ruled by quite different values in comparison to a trade.
“Love to me is the greatest marketing campaign ever invented.” (man, 35)
You know well it’s powerful, it gives you meaning or as this 56-year-old woman says:
“… I think, it just, it makes life worth living.”
Sometimes you find it bigger than language, beyond what words can describe:
“I don’t know, it’s pretty great I guess you can’t describe it.” (woman, 31)
Seniors know love helps you be your best self
You will melt down reading this older people’s perspective on love.
For a true believer, God is love.
“I think love is just a form of God.” (woman, 95)
A statement made by 80-year-old man who has been married for 55 years, is maybe the most important, as it stands out with pure essence of love and partnership:
“… our job in life, the two of us, is to look after each other and see to it that we are our best selfs, so to speak. So I try to help her be her best self, and she tries to help me, and um to me, that’s love you know.”
You can watch full video here: