Week 10

“The truth is, far too many people in our culture do not know what love is.”

Once again, I want to disagree with this statement but know that it is true for a lot of people. I have been really fortunate in growing up in a family where love is extremely valued as well as our familial relationships. However, since coming to college and being away from my family, I can see that even though love is valued, there have been many times where I felt that there was not love behind a decision or something said by my parents, but I pushed my bad feelings away because they’re my parents. They have provided me with a very comfortable life and I feel a sense of obligation to them, a sense of obligation that doesn’t allow me to be completely honest with them in how what they do makes me feel because I know that they wouldn't want to hear it. I also recognize that there are people less fortunate than me in who they have as a family, but I fell that there is a common denominator between all of us: we all have a skewed vision of love. I think that this is due to a lot of things, not only because of our own experiences but also because of the media surrounding love. With romances and rom-coms, I think from a very young age, we think love is going to be this fairytale that comes natural all the time, but that is not the case. Love and relationships are constant work. They don’t just work out naturally, and I think this idea that they do that the media has put in our heads is part of the reason divorce rates are so high. It’s really harmful and something we as a society and a generation that is getting ready for the age of marriage need to be aware of.