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What's Love Gotta Do with It?
by Kevin Jeong

There are many kinds of love in life but most sacred of them all is the love between a man and a woman. But there are times when people say that you are too young to fall in love, too young to understand love. Contrary to the popular belief however, is that everyone knows love and feels love from the very moment we are born.

In life, there are five stages of love that everyone goes through. The First love is the bond that is formed between the child and the parents. It is known as parental love, but to be precise it is actually maternal love. All of us bond with our mothers at an early age through the act of breastfeeding. As we suckle and make eye contact with our mothers, we bond on a spiritual level and this affection of love becomes our stepping stone to all of our future relation(ship)s. This very stage is the foundation of our emotional and social growth, strong relationship with our parents, both mother and father will show the child the social interactivity between a man and a woman. From our father and mother we learn to communicate and interact with other males and females. Whether it be our siblings, cousins, or our friends.

Which brings us to our second stage, love within the family. Our family is the first group of people who loves us and whom we love. Thus the Second love we experience is familial love, which is the love between parent to child, sibling to sibling. In this love, we bond with our family members.

The Third love we learn is Friendship where we bond with other people outside of the family.

The Fourth love is the love between a man and a woman; this is where we find interest and desire in the opposite sex.

Lastly, the Fifth love is love for an offspring when a child is born to a man and a woman.

We experience the four different kinds of love by the age of 12 - 14, and one more later on in adulthood... hopefully. It is clearly evident that we understand love and fall in love from the moment we are born. So why does age matter so much? Is it because of maturity? Does being immature make love less strong, less meaningful? Some grown men are more immature than most kids, yet there are those who are happily married with children. So it has nothing to do with one's maturity. After all, don't we see young man/woman falling in love with old man/woman? I admit there are those people who marry for luxury and comfort but that is not the case in all situations. There are those of whom that truly fall in love with total disregard to age difference. Age is not important in love. In love, the only thing that matters is love itself.

It is not wrong to love and it is never too early or too late to fall in love. Whether it is a schoolyard crush or an octogenarian love, love is always special no matter how old you are. To not know love is to not know life. Love is beautiful and should be celebrated for love is the greatest attribute that the human race has to offer. So never let anyone ridicule your love, for we only got one life to live, and to live without love is to not live at all.

Please send all comments and suggestions to kevinjeong@guyfactor.com.