What is Love?

English is such a limited language. It arrests it's speakers with words that handcuff them. They are policed by context, tone, and maybe intention. They sit on a bench built by conflation. English can be the jail we have no choice but to live in.

If you've studied other romance languages and other indigenous tongues, you will find that expressions are varied and different. There are many words to express a concept. Love is one of those words. Love isn't reduced to the romantic. It is grand and beautiful. It's friendly, familial, and firm. English denies us this pleasure.

And, now that we type far more than we talk, we are bound by how social media and different writing styles deliver expressions. Character limits and grammar rules. AP and Chicago styles. Text and threads. The absence of inflection. The interpretation of tone. Millions of people who have never spoken with each other are now reading each other's voices. As a writer, it's a goal. As a reader, it's overwhelming.

I love Love. I love how it shows up and defies the constraints of English. How it exists like a fine mist around us. How it is as unique as the person expressing it. Love is and it isn't. It's not only the memes and short, vanity blogs. It can be a one night stand in Barcelona. It can be 57 married years in Culver City. It can be smiles from babies. It can be a choreographed dance. It can be none of these and altogether something else. 

When we choose to limit ourselves, we fail. We have permission to be bigger than English(colonialism) says we are. We are full human BEINGS. English does not define our love. We define it. We are wordsmiths. We write the dictionaries. Define love as you see fit. Polyamorous, asexual, and everything in between. Just don't let your definition condemn another.