On the misuse of the term, "Love"

"Ah, spring! That wonderful time of year when a young man's fancy turns to love!"

- Calvin and Hobbes.

We all have the friend who is constantly saying "love" all the time, usually out of context. But wait a second- what's the right context? Are there varying degrees of love? Whats the difference if so?

Well, I'm gonna tell ya.

The first kind of love, is the least acknowledged:

Brotherly love:

If I told you that I love my buddy, Noah, what would you think? That I'm weird, possibly gay? Well, guess what, I'm and definitely neither or those (weird is debatable, but we'll save that for another time). The fact is, I do in fact love my best friend, Noah Mead. But it's a brotherly love- one that we share mutually.

It is the sort of love that causes one to put the other before themselves, and to sacrifice for the other. This is something that is common for all love, but in a brotherly sort of love, it is especially powerful. I share this mutual love with all of my guy friends. Brotherly love is what happens when you truly develop a powerful bond with someone.

Chivalrous love:

You've all hopefully heard of chivalry, but If you haven't I'll give a recap:

Chivalry is defined as "The sum of ideal qualification ... including courtesy, generosity, and valor" Chivalry is often thought of as caring for a respecting women. This is what chivalrous love is.

Chivalrous is were one looks at those women around him, assesses their personal needs and tries to take care of them accordingly.

An example of this from my own life:

You all know Rine, right? Well, she's sort of an emotionally frail person. I've found that she comes to me a great deal with problems. Instead of just saying "Uhhhh, I don't know" in a dumb voice, I try my best to help out and answer her questions to the best of my ability.

If your asked "do you love that girl," then, you should say yes, but then clarify that it is chivalrous love, in which you want to protect and provide for that person.

Familial love:

All of the above loves can be condensed down into this love. You should have brotherly love for you brothers, and chivalrous love for your sisters. But, Familial love in important, because it is what binds all these loves together and creates a family. The source of Familial love should come from the parents, who's love for each other should the familial love.

Romantic love:

Consider this qoutation: "Yeah, she loves you. Like I love [name deleted for privacy]. And he loves me! Lalalalalal!"

This is not a correct use of term. When this person said this, they were still in the "liking" stage. It wasn't even legit relationship yet. Romantic love is something that all people feel when they reach a certain age. But, we need to be careful how we express this, or else it will be end up hurting both ourselves, and our love interest.

On must care for the other's emotions. This is especially important in the male's role in the relationship. as men were meant to protect and provide women. Never the less though, each member of the relationship should be careful with another's emotions.

Romantic love is tricky business, and I would personally advise all the thirteen to fourteen year-olds that are reading this to refrain from it for the time being.


Love is great. God created us to love, and he loves us. But, we must be careful in the proper use of the term.  Love is sacred, and we should treat the abstract idea and the word as such.