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You know, there are a lot of people out there who have a pretty twisted view of what love is. There are some people (and I am not making this up) who actually believe giving love is an acceptable way of showing appreciation for something done in the past. Sort of like... "hey, you did me a favor, so I'm just going to love you for the rest of my life." Now, it just may be me, but I don't think of love as some sort of abstract I.O.U. I kind of thought that love was given to the person who made you most happy, most content with yourself, and who made you feel like you're the one and only thing in their life worth waking up for in the morning.

Also, I've learned that there are a lot of people out there who are more in love with the memory of how things were with the person they're involved with, rather than how they actually are. I'm guilty of this as well. It's as if a relationship between two people can be totally one-sided and useless, with one person completely clinging onto the hope that someday, things will be just as they were when the relationship started... and the other person not really caring how things went, one way or the other. Still, the hopeful person sits around, waiting, taking in the abuse and the pain, growing more and more frustrated. But as soon as the other says, "I love you," all of the old memories of how wonderful things used to be automatically negate every bad thing that has happened since then. Suppose I slapped you in the face twenty times a day, every day, for an entire year, for no good reason. Then, one day, I apologize. Wouldn't it be ridiculous for you just to say, "Okay, you're forgiven, let's be happy and friendly again" ? Especially if I just go ahead and slap you again immediately after saying it, without rhyme or reason? It's so strange.

So... yes. Some people love others because they think they owe it to them to do so and not because the other has actually earned that love... And others are staring so hard at the closed door of an old memory that they don't even see the opened door right beside them.

And, I depart.