love. (also: teenage dating)

i find the word "love" tossed around a lot, especially with us teens. but i also find a lot of us don't really get what it means. first: what is love? and what is attached? i find a lot of people who say they "love" each other, but then break up in a few months. i think this is mostly because they don't entirely understand what they're saying. love is not the woozy feeling you get when you look at someone you like. that will fade, and when it does, you'll be left wondering why you don't feel as strongly as you did before, and then probably break up. did you think that state of intoxication would last your whole life? your stomach acid will eventually kill all the butterflies. love is the ability and desire to stay with someone through everything. no matter how many times you fight, always staying with them, because they are more important to you than anything else in the world. love is wanting to do everything for someone, even if they don't even notice. love never asks what you can get from the other person, but what you can give the other person.

now for teen dating. i find younger and younger teens hooking up. that's just asking for trouble. dating has one purpose, and one purpose only. it's to test the field looking for someone you will spend the rest of your life with. frankly, at 13 you're not thinking of marriage, are you? this will probably be the first (of many) times you will feel jittery about someone, and you think that you're "in love". but when all that leaves, what's left? did you ever really love the person? or just the way they made you feel? you really have to examine how you feel, and what kind of base your relationship has before you even consider dating, and even then, i don't think it's a good idea under the age of 16 or 17. then at least you have a possibility of lasting until you're old enough to do something about it. the teen years are a confusing time, but trust me, it just gets more confusing if you add relationships to it. if you really think you like a person, build a solid friendship to use as a foundation when you're old enough to actually do anything about your feelings.