Love and reciprocity are both held to a high regard in our society. Love is essential to people, we need to feel love in order to survive. Reciprocity is the way the world seems to work; you give what you get and get what you give. Love is a beautiful and important thing and we could never be where we are without it. Love is what holds the strings of society together because we need people. Reciprocity is what people see as a sense of justice; we should treat others as we want to be treated. Reciprocity creates an atmosphere of helpfulness because people want to be helped so they help others. Both are integral principles in society, so it is hard to say which of the two is more important. On one hand, we could not be who we are today without the love of other people. However, similarly, the world could not function as it does today without the concept of reciprocity. Both are concepts that occur naturally to us, and ones that we act naturally upon.

However, I think I have to argue for love over reciprocity. It’s not that I have anything against the concept of reciprocity. I do believe the practice of reciprocity makes the world function and makes us who we are. However, reciprocity has a sort of twist to it that makes it potentially harmful to relationships and people. Reciprocity is something that can quickly go from a good thing to an evil one. If someone treats you in a bad way, then, according to reciprocity, you are going to want to treat them badly, too. If someone does you harm, then you are going to want to cause them harm also. In the worst case scenarios, reciprocity could mean someone deciding to take a life for a life taken from them. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, an ear for an ear, a life for a life. It is this kind of thing that makes people see reciprocity as a bad thing and gives it a bad name. Of course, you cannot prevent people from taking reciprocity and twisting it into something evil. However, if we could, then reciprocity would not even be reciprocity anymore. Do unto others as they do unto you means that there will be just as many bad reciprocations as there will be good ones. I do not think that reciprocity is a bad thing, but I am aware that it can easily be perceived that way. Maybe if we could just get people to stop doing bad things, then reciprocity could be seen as just love in the form of kindness.

I have to say that love is something that should be higher than all else. There are so many reasons that love is more important than other principles. To begin with, love is something that we absolutely and desperately need to survive. If we were not loved and could not love, then there would be no point to living. Without that most intimate level of human interaction, the soul grows weary of all the bad things in life. We need love to remind us of the best thing that can possibly happen to us. Love connects us with the people that are around us and gives us something to hold onto in life.

Love and reciprocity are both important in life. However, more than anything, we need love to survive this life.