I often run into the problem with people that they take advantage of the breadth of the word love, whereas I prefer to reserve it for the strongest of cases. For me, love has a relatively simple metric: putting the feelings of another above my own. That metric allows it to function in platonic and romantic cases perfectly well, but it seems to be a far more stringent metric than that of most people. As a result of the asymmetry, I'm occasionally faced with a difficulty when another person expresses love for me, because they inevitably mean it in a lesser way than I do. So they insist they love me, while I know perfectly well that they do not. And, when love is what I want, someone telling me that they love me when I know they don't just heightens the feeling of being unloved.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-06-01 14:40 (UTC)As a result of the asymmetry, I'm occasionally faced with a difficulty when another person expresses love for me, because they inevitably mean it in a lesser way than I do. So they insist they love me, while I know perfectly well that they do not. And, when love is what I want, someone telling me that they love me when I know they don't just heightens the feeling of being unloved.