LOVE IS THE PRODUCT OF LEARNING

Love is so meaningful, yet so very difficult to define!

Is there an acceptable definition of love? Many poems have been written, many songs have been sung, many words have been uttered, many hearts have been broken, and truly tragedies abound all because of love. Unfortunately, no such definition exists because it is extremely general concept encompassing many kinds of interpersonal relationships.

The love that a parent feels for a child is not the love felt by brothers and sisters for each other or for their parents; nor is it he same as that experienced by husband and wife. In quite another way, we love ourselves. In still another sense, we "fall in love" with someone with whom we had no previous relationship, perhaps "at first sight." We speak of "spiritual love" and "sexual love." We "love" certain kinds of food. The term is used so often and in so many contexts that it has almost ceased to have meaning.

A psychologist has the following definition of love: "Love is the active concern for the life and growth of that which we love," and "when the satisfaction or the security of another person becomes as significant to one as is one's own satisfaction or security then the state of love exists."

Whatever the definition, many will agree that the ability to love, to care for others, and to engage in mature sexual behavior is a product of learning.