How quickly lust can pretend it's love

It's amazing how American culture uses the word love. We can use the same word for how we feel towards our parents and God, then go and use to it say how we feel about the new Classic Crime cd. Mind you, the new Classic Crime cd is incredible. However no one stops to even think before they use the word anymore. How can we have the same feelings towards an object that doesn't live, breath, feel, or love us back that we do towards our own mother? Girlfriends and boyfriends use it all the time without thinking about it. I've seen 13 year olds say it to each other. Now I'm not saying they don't know what love is, or can't be in love at that age, but most likely...they don't. My friends will say it every time they get off the phone with their girlfriends. I love you too. When's the last time they said that and actually thought about what it meant? It's just a common phrase that's being thrown around. The problem is, when it's actually the right time to use it, it means nothing.

My friends always think it's odd that I don't say I love you back. Mostly girls. Guys don't care. But they question me. They say they love me as a friend. How is that even a legit statement? You can't group love into certain categories. All love is the same. You can have priorities of love. For example, you should love God more than anyone or anything else. Second should be your parents. 3rd, your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend. Not saying you shouldn't love friends. But there is a difference in having a friend that you've known for years that has always been there for you and you will always be there for them.

I can honestly say I love a total of 2 friends. Not counting my brother. And I will name names for a first. Chris and Scott. And by love I mean, I would drop whatever I was doing and be there if they needed me. I would die for them. Unless they were asking me to hurt themselves I would do anything in the world for them. And I know they would do the same for me. That's what love is for me. I don't believe you can love someone after hanging out with them for a few times. Or from making out with a girl a few times. That's definitely not love. It's lust. And to quote Emery, "How quickly lust can pretend it's love."

Let me make a note right now that it's not that I don't care about my other friends. I do. It's just not real love. And I'm being completely honest when saying all of this.

This is my philosophy on love. If they call you up at 3:30 in the morning and they are stuck in a city 8 hours away, would you drive to go pick them up? Or would you tell them to ask their parents or take a bus? If you had a job interview for your dream job and right before the interview they call you and said their mom just died? Would you go to the interview? If you had a gun to your head by a man looking to kill them, would you tell him where they are? Or would you tell him and live? If your friend was living on the street with to much debt to repay, would you sell all of your possessions to get him back on his feet? When you are 70 years old, will you still be friends with this person? And the hardest one...if your friend was doing something to hurt themselves, would you step in and stop it? This could be anything from a drinking problem, to a problem controlling themselves with girls, to suicide. The latter being an easy answer. Hopefully.

If you can honestly answer all of these questions honestly and altruistically than you have love. If you stop for a second and say what would I gain/lose, then you do not. If you even have to think about the answer to any of those than you do not. That's what I believe. That's why I don't throw love around loosely. Because when I tell someone I love them, I am ready to do any of the things I listed above.

Now onto my views of love when it comes to girls. If a girl is reading this, just put guy in there instead of girl. I have been in love once. I know it was love because 1. I could answer all of the above questions and 2. Because she's still in my heart. It's not that I'm not over her. If I wasn't, I would have a problem I think. But think about this for me. If you have a significant other, go 6 months without speaking to her, seeing her, or having anything to do with her. Fill your life with other things, other girls, and other things that have absolutely nothing to do with her. Would you still think about her every day? It's hard to say if you've never been there, but I do. Would you still be able to do all of the things I listed above? I would. Because love is never ending. It doesn't end just because the relationship did. True love is never ending, no matter the circumstances. And maybe in a few years, this will all be proved wrong when I meet someone else. If I meet someone else, rather. But I don't believe it will. We broke up 2 and a half years ago. That's plenty of time to move on, which I did. However if she ever needed anything at all, I wouldn't hesitate to be by her side and help her through whatever she needs. Not in hopes of getting back with her. Not to make myself look like the better person. But because I care. Because I have love. Love is something you can't rationalize. I have said before, there is no mathematics to love. There is no formula. There is no eye for an eye. Common sense would say, she broke your heart, forget about her. You owe her nothing. But I common sense has no hold on real love. Love exceeds practicality. Whether she feels the same, I don't know. I probably never will. But I know how I feel.

That's the kind of love I believe in. A love that can only be given by God. Not the I love you one week, then could care less the next deal. That's not love. That's ignorance. Do not overuse love. In today's society, it is to late though. It's already overused. It's a formality now. I hate formalities. There is no thought behind them. No heart. No compassion. It's blank. Completely meaningless. Just said or done because it is expected. Love shouldn't be expected. And that's the problem.