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This is my entry for the Information Finding Championship Season 02 Round 09 (run by @ifc and @apolymask) with the topic of "LOVE"!

What is Love?

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Perhaps the most common thought that pops into one's head when the word "Love" is mentioned is the concept of Romantic Love. The thrill of love at first sight, the idealised notion that has been popularised by books and movies since the Elizabethan Age (as a side note, that period of Western history has a lot to answer for....).

It is the love that we are most familiar with as young adults and teenagers. The searching for that one person who is the complete fit in all things, that completes your very being... perhaps similar to the best friend or the soulmate, perhaps slightly different? The idea that compels us to do stupid things, which takes up our every thought and waking hour.

Perhaps it manifests itself in the puppy love of figures of authority, or perhaps in the unrequited secret love from a distance. Maybe it is the close friendship that blossoms into something that is much more.... with more at stake and more to lose, yet with so much more to take pleasure from!

Other Loves?

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As we grow through life... we start to discover other forms of love, some abstract.... and others destructive. It could be the love of a material thing, a favourite car or belonging that is irrationally prized beyond its ability to return the affection... or the love of progress of some numbers in some ledger somewhere to brings meaning to some lives, and a perception of societal validation.

It could be the love of an animal or a pet, who is in some way able to return the love and affection... but will be forever hampered (well, some might disagree strongly with this...) by the ability to communicate and be an equal partner.

It might be the love that a parent has for a child, the sort of commitment that leads one to sacrifice parts of your own vision and time to help realise the meaning of another life. The sort of love that leads one to spend countless years sleeping on hard floors, calming tears and helping to realise dreams. However strong this love, it is still one that has an implicit heirarchy and one that will be forever separated in time... forever out of phase as one is destined to finish before the other.

My Thoughts on Love

So... after all of this rambling... what are my thoughts on what love is? Love is the thought that there will always be someone who is your companion on the unknown journey through life, the one who provides safety and contentment, knowing that they somehow, unbelievably, they accept your faults along with any positives that might otherwise be invisible to you. It is the bond with the person who helps you become the best person that you can be, who you will do anything for...

... it is the idea that at the end of a long day of work and travelling, after they have had their own personal long day of life, that there is someone who remembered you long enough to welcome you home with a much appreciated meal, left warming in the oven!