Quote of the Month by Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)


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Eight Letters

by Charlie Phillips

    Just eight letters can mean so much. What eight letters am I talking about U I O E V Y O L, now you say that doesn’t make any sense, so lets move them around a little, “I Love You.” Three little words that can mean so much, and at the same time are often said without much thought. To some it can only be related to the physical act of love.

    In today’s culture a lot of what is called love is just the physical act. This is not love it is merely physical, but is often confused with the emotion of love. The truth is that true love is emotion pure and simple. Does that mean love can’t be physical, absolutely not the physical part of it can be the completion of love. That is the way it should be, the physical act should be a fulfillment of love, not an end unto itself.

    We have the other form of love such as a mothers love for her child and visa versa. This love is a bond that lasts forever. I’m in my sixties and yet my mom still worries about her little boy. This feeling goes both ways, yet I’m sure a mother’s love is stronger than that of her siblings.

    Sometimes the person saying, “I love you” is doing so just because they know that’s what the other wants to hear. In that case a disservice has been done and it really affects both. The one who says it knows he/she isn’t being honest and the one hearing it has a false hope. In the end they both lose.

    Maybe if we applied a honest look at the world we would discover the main reason for all the turmoil is because we as humans have forgotten how to love. A lot of our actions bear this out, we have road rage, warfare, politics and a thousand other things that we get caught up in and it’s always the same. We have to win. Well when it’s all said and done, just what have we won. It’s been said that he who dies with the most toys wins. What does he win he’s still dead? Maybe someone who doesn’t have many toys but lives longer with a partner that he loves, and who loves him is really the winner. It would appear to me that all the toys in the world aren’t going to bring much real happiness if there is no love. Now if you love what you are doing and also make a lot of money at it that would be one thing. If you’re just doing it for the money then your goal is just material things. To some people material things are everything, but what happens when you either get everything or you can’t get something you think you want. There is always that person who is right behind you out to get more than you have, so the race is on and never finished.

    I have known many wealthy people and some enjoy life, but so many are so busy making sure that nobody is getting ahead of them or out doing them that they never take any real time out to smell the roses. They also have a tendency to only associate with people who can benefit them in business or is in the proper group. They couldn’t even imagine having a friend just because they liked him. I guess in some ways you can’t blame them because they have to be cautious because someone is always trying to use them also.

Now having put those on the tables so to speak, how about the real emotion of love.

The American Heritage dictionary has many explanations for it. Among them are:

3. To have an intense emotional attachment to.

    All of these listed are the emotion of love. If you really love someone and tell him or her so, and if you hear the same back from them, admit it you heart skips a beat. Your outlook on life just got a little brighter. Those three little words, eight letters, can make your whole day. Without love we just exist. Some say money makes the world go round, but it wouldn’t be much of a world without love.

    I think I prefer a life of unconditional love, with someone who loves me the same way. To me that makes the love for material things pale by comparison. Maybe you just have to reach a point in life where you decide that material things really don’t matter. As long as you have a place to sleep and food to eat, and someone to love that is the real meaning of life. As long as you can say and mean it with all your heart “I Love You” then you have the essence of life. This of course is just one man’s opinion.