In 1993 singer/songwriter Haddaway asked the most pressing question of my life. What is love? It seems as though years of indulgence in movies, T.V, and social media have left me a sucker for sappy moments, corny one-liners, and long tear-filled embraces that are interpreted as love for the main characters. This has established a standard for what love looks like for ourselves, our families and a society as a whole. Maybe I just bought into the idea that if you were the best you, you could possibly be for the rest of the world then love would eventually find you, but eventually is taking an eternity to be over. What I didn't know is that this idea saying that there is a TRUE love to be had implies the existence of FAKE love and undermines what REAL love should be. Letting past relationships determine your idea of love as something that is self-serving, fairly lonely, and extremely reserved is an idea that cripples and scars hearts and souls, scaring people from truly opening up and expressing themselves to their best ability. What is love? Does anyone truly know or can we only pull from our own experiences and form our own definition. To some love might be the gifts we give to each other, to others it might be the time spent together, maybe it is the words spoken, the acts of service, or the way we touch and hold the ones we care about. Are all of these too much to ask for in the everyday? To me strangely enough, as much as I try to chase it, love has been painful and uncomfortable. Love tends to be an unbearable emotion of worry, of uncertainty, of diving blindly into the unknown and sticking with it because of a feeling in the pit of your stomach. Whether it has been relationships, or interacting with strangers, or aiding others in need, the love I give requires maximum effort which in hindsight have only made me grow. The very act of interacting with other people, especially strangers, is scary enough but when you add the vulnerability of kindness and love in the mix, the fear of rejection is often insurmountable so we turn a blind eye to potential encounters. The opportunity to demonstrate love is everywhere and is in high demand all over the world and the act of compassion for other human beings and strangers around the world would not be done were it not for a deep sense of love for each and every person. Perhaps the time to redefine love from a selfish and secure feeling to a universal feeling of blind passion for those who share this world among us is one of the quickest ways to incite change in a world begging for it. Maybe it is time to dive headfirst into the fear and the unknown that love has to offer. I mean does it not seem a little backward that hostility and anger are always expected more from people than understanding and kindness are.