Reading previous posts, I think it is safe to say that love takes many forms. And although it is a simple four letter word, the meaning of love is a complex feeling, emotion, reaction, etc. Love can be easy, love can be hard, and love can be the willingness to overcome adversity.

Love can be for an inanimate object, an animal, an action, or for another human being. Each one of those categories could then be broken down into subcategories; love can be for a pillow or a blanket, a dog named Niko, sleeping, playing sports, or cooking, and love can be for a man, a woman, or someone who has changed his or her own gender to feel comfortable in his or her own skin.

Not to be redundant and/or annoying, but those subcategories could be broken down and so on and so forth. The point is if I asked every person in this world what the definition of love is, I almost guarantee that every response would be different.

Love is complex. I want to share about two people. One afternoon, an individual walked into the doors of a coffee shop. As this person ordered a hot cup of coffee, another person was typing away at a computer writing a thesis paper. Ten minutes later, the two individuals began to engage in a conversation about the weather which lead to professions, which then lead to politics, which then lead to exchanging numbers for a second encounter.

After spending more time together, the two fell in love with one another. The rest, as they say, is history.

You maybe asking why I told such a boring, cliche story. My response would be this, "Who did you picture in the story? A man and a woman? A woman and a woman? Who were the two people that fell in love?"

During my undergraduate studies I performed a study just as this one. After I read this story out loud to the participants, they were to immediately state the genders of the two characters in the story. My results were as followed: 48/56 stated a man and a woman, 5/56 stated the genders were never mentioned, and 3/56  did not complete the survey. After I disclosed that the two people in the story were women, most responded with guilty/surprised looks on their faces.

Not that a blog entry needs to have a point or anything, but my hope in writing this post is that some individual out there will realize that love is not one simple idea that happens between a man and a woman, but rather love is complex and relative to the individual.

To close, love is for the individual and the individual alone. With that said...Love who you want when you want.

Anonymous