What is Love About, Really?

Photo: TripAdvisor 

I'm no guru and there is no correct answer to this question, nor will there probably ever be. It's the nature of the topic; ever mysterious, yet ever profound. Because even though love is not something you can measure or quantify, I'd argue that the stuff is just as real as anything. So here's a scenario provided as food for thought for the next time that little someone or something special has you feeling that ooey-gooey shit.

You're strolling through the hillside or the mountains, or a meadow, let's say. As you're walking you're taking in the lovely scenery, the pleasant vistas, the fresh air. You look down to the ground and see a beautiful purple wildflower.

You stop; you want to look at it closer. You reach down to pick it up and snatch it from the earth so you can look at it more thoroughly, maybe give it a good sniff and then take it back with you as a souvenir because hell, you love this flower and you really want to keep it. It'd look pretty good in that vase by the window in your home, or it'd make for an excellent gift to that one person who you know would love it. You want to take this flower and keep it as a possession because it's that pretty. But as you reach down, you stop right before you touch it. And you think to yourself...

"Hold up. I want this flower, but if I take it from the ground in which it is growing, I will kill it."

So you consciously decide to leave it be and to keep trudging along. Then you start to wonder about the nature of love itself, and ponder, is love about possession? I mean, I loved that flower, and if I took it with me it'd be mine, but it'd also die. So maybe love is not about possession after all; maybe it's not about making something or someone your own.

Maybe at the end of the day love is about appreciation. By leaving the flower where you found it, you allow it to keep growing - to continue blossoming the way nature intended it to, in its own way. You appreciate the flower for what it is and let it continue to grow and develop into its most brilliant form because you love and appreciate it. Perhaps this is what love is really about?