For some, their whole lives are spent trying to discover the source of one particular emotion: love. The term has many self-proclaimed definitions, but few actually know its true meaning. People spend their whole lives trying to find it, only to realize it is elusive; teasing and flirting, only to flit away just when you have begun to develop an inkling of what it is truly like.

Love is like God, something that cannot be proven, yet we cannot help but to have a small part believe that it exists. It is an emotion that we see abused so often these days that many question its existence. The hopeful have become hopeless, convinced that love is an urban legend, told and retold until every story ends the same. Love has become cliché, simply because the true essence has been lost, abused by the ‘licensed’ Hollywood, and would-be writers spilling poison with each and every word, brainwashing with theater performances designed to make one settle for nothing short of perfect.

Even while we become more hopeless with each passing day we stubbornly cling to our faith. Love will find us eventually, we must be patient and not settle for anything less. But what is less and what is real? The difference is unknown to most. So many times we have seen proclaimed love that could not hold up. So we hold ourselves in check, testing slowly, waiting to read the results. We tread cautiously as if one misstep might cause us to go under and never resurface. We are forever plagued with doubt and fear. So much hope is thrown into each prospective, we set ourselves up for failure. We go into a relationship believing that it will not work. Something must go wrong because that is the way it works. The truth is we destroy the chance ourselves. We believe love exists, yet are unwilling to take a risk, to jump into the water unsure of how far the bottom is. Love is a goal that seems out of our reach, so high do we hold it up, not even heaven could touch it.

Until we realize our human limit we shall never be truly happy. We must learn to push away the fears and doubts and let our guards down. Those walls that have been built to shut out the world and the pain that it holds must be torn down. For if you do not know pain how will you ever recognize love?