So my friend and I the other day were talking about how rare it is to find genuinely nice guys. It has become so difficult to find someone who isn’t just skin deep and has good intentions. The desire for an actual relationship with someone beyond the bedroom seems like something that should be a given but with relationships today the real stuff doesn’t seem to matter. The real stuff in a relationship is the best part, it does not make someone weak to want to be with someone and only that person. It seems this generation has given up on romance and the meaning of what love really is. This is a generation that is so interested in themselves and what others think over what they think about themselves.

When my grandparents told me about how they met, that day and age seemed to have valued the meaning of a relationship instead of seeing it as just a title. Dates then consisted of holding the door open for the lady, going out to dinner, and being adventurous with each other. It was a time when “falling in love” wasn’t seen as being soft and seeing vulnerability as a weakness. Falling in love is an amazing thing and it shouldn’t be shamed by others because they are simply jealous.

Back then they did not use emojis to express their love to each other. Love is not a goodnight text with a heart face emoji. Swiping left on someone on Tinder just because you simply think they are hot is not how you win someone's heart, at least not mine. Love should be throwing a rock at someone’s window in the middle of the night with a boombox over your shoulder, even simpler nowadays because we have iPhones. Even simpler than that, love can just be showing someone that you respect and care about them. A relationship is not “Netflix and chilling” and making someone your bae, it should be deeper. You should value the person you are with. Being in a relationship should mean you have hope for a future and it isn’t just someone to fill your needs for the time being. Relationship "goals" isn't someone buying you everything, get a job. Goals should be trusting, communicating, and having a strong relationship. The idea of cheating has turned into a normality. It is seen as something that just happens, but it should not be that way. When you are committed to someone, it should not be okay to step out of the relationship when convenient. Have we simply just forgotten how to love?

I really hope this is not what the next generation's idea of love is. It has begun to lose its meaning. This generation is missing out on so much. A relationship isn’t something you always need, either. A relationship is not just a given title, it is something you work on and commit to. You don’t need a relationship if you're just looking for someone to fill in your loneliness or bring you food whenever you want. A relationship today consists of people cheating like it is just something that happens, a goodnight text is considered the highest of romantic gestures, and being overly controlling it is seen as okay. Not all relationships are like that, and I hope this is not the idea of what love is for generations to come.