What have we done? A murder most foul has taken place, in fact, has been taking place for generations. What happened to us, Generation Y? What happened to love? Can we pinpoint the exact place where we lost sight of that driving and fundamental force of life that makes it worth living? When did we lose sight of love? Not necessarily romantic love, not necessarily Hallmark greeting card love, not necessarily Valentine’s Day love; but everyday, practical love; true love, true fellowship, true friendship. What happened to Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream? What have the efforts of our forefathers amounted to? Where is it society is hiding it’s love?

I realize that I’ve crossed somewhere into a Beatles-like realm of social philanthropy and “hippy ideals” but I’m being as serious and non-contrived as possible. There is an alarming and, quite frankly, disturbing absence of that four letter word that currently holds about as much amiable and heartfelt meaning as the rest of it’s infamous ilk. In fact, I almost wish that people would convey love with as much passion and dedication as they do their curses. We, as a society and a generation, have so perverted this sacred and marvelous concept and emotion that it’s as recognizable as a third degree burn victim. Whatever happened to good-will to all men? Whatever happened to charity? Why is it that America accounts for more than ninety percent of the world’s wealth; and yet, there are people within our own country, nay, our very city that must go on without food some days at a time? Why is it that there can be people in this very school that feel as if no one cares about them, as if no one would notice or bat an eyelash if they were to never show up again? When did human life stop holding an intense and personal value to us and instead become replaced by another statistic, another tax dollar, another face in a sea of faces?

I don’t mean to sound condemning, I in my own ways have neglected to love those around me in a practical and real way, and thus, this is as much for my own rude awakening as it is for your own ears. And yet, tell me I’m mistaken, tell me that there is not something that needs to be done and soon? When I can accidently bump into someone in the hallway and get insulted to my very core with curses, when fights break out over trivial nothings and racial conflicts. When I see people condemned by their own friends day after day and capricious, fickle fellowship with our fellow human beings rules the day. When I know that there are some of my very own friends that are at this moment hurting, and I have no clue because I myself have neglected to show them that I love them and care about their condition more so than my own little insignificant life.

So what can be done? What can we do to reverse a process that was started long before our parents or their own were conceived and birthed? For starters, we can listen, we can care, and we can change our concept of love as it is. Love, in it’s purest nature, is putting those you care about above yourself. It’s about exalting your friends, family and significant other to a point where they can never doubt they are loved. It’s about selflessness. Even “romantic love” as it’s described by society, can take these same ideals to it’s core. Love has never been and will never be a purely physical affair. And the moment we stop looking intrinsically and judge who receives our care and love based on outer appearances, is the same moment that love as we know it dies a slow, unnoticed death.

Love is knowing, accepting, forgiving, and treasuring the imperfect. Those flaws in our character, appearance, and morals that make us who we are in every literal sense. To err is human, to forgive divine, and to love is the next obvious step! There is no doubt in my mind that if we, as a class, as a society, as a population were to just stop in our hectic lives and look around, if we were to walk into this classroom and throughout the halls and instead of stressing over what we have to do next and what we might not have studied for; if instead of that, we took a look around at our peer’s faces, we would see a necessity that needed to be filled. We would see an opportunity to apply all that I’ve been so earnestly conveying. Have I said it enough? Have I made it how clearly important this is to a functional society?

And what of romantic love? That previously I had mentioned off-handedly (as if I had forgotten about such). Romantic love is perhaps the most contorted, twisted, and vitiated concept of love in this culture we call American. Love is so much more than school dances, than awkward conversations and daytime T.V. Love is so much more than holding hands, or common interests, more than companionship, love is more than sex (although, one wouldn’t be able to tell by every aspect of media these days). I believe the problem we have with romantic love and why there is so much controversy surrounding it and it’s definition is that we fail to treat romantic love like it’s a real thing, like we do everyday love. We have this misconceived notion of what romantic love has to be, of what a first kiss has to be, of what somebody is if they are without a boyfriend or girlfriend during high school. Why is there so much pressure to immediately cultivate the single most important relationship in your life? Love takes time, love takes dedication and it’s something many of us teenagers (and far too many adults) have in short supply. Would you attempt to build a colossal mansion of epic proportions without first calculating your costs of materials and labor? You wouldn’t, because chances are, if you just began building on a hope and a prayer and measured based on appearance and aesthetics alone, you would wind up with a half-built, shoddily constructed, and unfit-to-live-in house! So why, oh why, do we play this game that is called mating?

Why do we look for the love that’s shown on anything from sitcoms to romance novels? We expect to receive so much from a love that we have never even attempted to put anything into. We expect to find true love and yet refuse to love anyone first? Why do we seek that which we have never given? It’s simple economics that nothing comes without a cost, and it’s also simple that the more you put into something, the more you gain from it. Love is an investment that will mature and exponentially increase in value until your wealth is immeasurable. All you have to do is show it. All you have to do is invite that one person that no one talks to to sit with you at lunch, all you have to do is flash a genuine smile, laugh a genuine laugh, cry genuine tears and lend a real, listening ear.

Love is nothing complicated, it’s not rocket science, it’s a practical, everyday source of sustenance and servitude to a starved and suffering world. As I think of the people that I admire, the people that I strive to become, the people who have literally saved my life time and time again, I realize that they have the real value in this world. I tell you true, a man (or woman) is not measure by his wealth, skills, fame or fortune; but by how much and how earnestly they openly and abundantly love.