[QOTW] Who Gives Love Its Power? [Written by Brandon Williams]

There’s nothing on this earth quite like love. Out of all the things that we are capable of as humans, love is the greatest and most powerful emotion of them all. It has the ability to make us think, say, and do things that we never thought was possible. Love can give us strength and courage, it can motivate us, and sometimes it can be what breaks us. That’s one of the scary things about powerful entities and emotions when used for good they can be great, but when it works against us it can take us to depths we had no idea even existed. Of course, there are different forms of love, and while I won’t go through each one, I will say that when it comes to love, there are two primary sources; there is the love you that feel naturally or instinctually, and then there’s the love that you develop. The difference between the two CAN be very simple to break down, in that the love that you feel is the love that comes from family, more specifically our blood relatives, because as we all know a lot of times our friends can grow and become closer to us than any of our immediate family members ever could. This comes from people who love each other through bonds forged by fate, destiny, or what have you.  This kind of love and care isn’t due to an accidental meeting or a calculated attempt to find it ourselves, this love can be purely based on things out of our control entirely. While the love we build, that which is forged by a process of living and learning through various encounters both experienced firsthand and observed from the outside, usually that which is in romantic relationships, different friendships, or even the love for a task/skill. This love comes from making a choice day in and day out, to persevere when things get difficult, the choice to not give up and wanting to see how far this love can sustain itself, choosing to return and see how far we are willing to let this love grow, and how this growth will hopefully improve us in the future. Now make no mistake, no matter what kind of love it is, or where it comes from it still retains the same potential for power so while we embrace it, we must also be wary of it simultaneously. The question that I pose to you is, what is it that gives love its immense power? Is it something in us that is hardwired from birth that causes us to act/react the way that we do? Or is it learned behavior, in that we see others adapt and react to love and we adopt those responses as our own growing up? Let us know in the comments below, and as always, we look forward to your insight.