Feature

The Influence of Love in an Individual's Life

Nadia Saleh

The word love is very small, of a single syllable only, but it carries and conveys a lot of meaning. It is perhaps the sweetest and the most beautiful word in the world. No person can deny the fact that he/she has ever loved anybody or anything even for a moment of his/her life. As Francis Bacon; the father of English prose style puts it," ... love can find entrance not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept," (305, OF LOVE). It is a sort of a motivation in one's life and influences it in various aspects.

Many a time love's connotation is limited and confused by numerous common people who see it only as a relationship between a male and a female. What they fail to see or lack in understanding is that love an over used word can be of varied kinds and is not or cannot be limited to any boundaries. A child has love for his/her parents, parental love for their children, love for siblings, for friends, teachers, love for pets, for particular objects, nature, own country, spiritual and holy love, even love between animals, birds etc. exist in the world.

At an individual level, when the magic word of love touches one, he/she sees the world with a very new eye. Everything seems beautiful. Any little and simple activity becomes the source of joy. There is a happy and pleasant mood found in everything. Nothing seems difficult or impossible, even such thing as sacrificing life. Here we can draw the example of our freedom fighters, who are the martyrs of our liberation war. Their love for the country was so strong and intense that they risked their lives without any hesitation. Love creates an urge, which is felt within to fulfill any task properly to satisfy the loved ones. This, in order also helps one to prosper and progress in life. People also feel the need to be there for their loved ones in times of joy or sorrow. These make their lives meaningful and worthy in the world.

While many people can express their love, some may have difficulty with it or lack the ability to express it totally. For example the Emperor, Shahjahan built Tajmahal for his beloved, Mumtaz. It was his token of love. That does not mean that everybody has to build such monuments to prove their love. Sometimes little things can do wonders such as remembering a promise, being punctual etc. Such small deeds are also expressions of love. But the problem is that many people cannot do these things or afford to give expensive gifts or build monuments like Emperor Shahjahan. It does not imply that their love is lesser in quality compared to the other "expressive" and "Mr know-it-how" persons and should not be underestimated in anyway. Each person's love is precious in his or her own respective way.

However, the influence of love is not all good. Like any other thing, it also has some had aspects. Being obsessed with love is a complete "NO-NO" as it can be harmful in many ways physically, mentally etc. Too much involvement in love can make one forget the top priorities of life, making him/her careless, and this can cause a chain of mistakes and eventually may lead to a devastation of everything.

Despite these drawbacks, love has always been praised and upheld as the greatest thing of life. Over centuries, writers and poets have been so much influenced and enchanted with it that they have produced great works of literature. In ending, another of Bacon's remark from his essay 'OF LOVE' is worth mentioning which clearly reflects the infuence of love, "Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it." It means that married love preserves mankind, love of friends ennobles human beings but dissolute and immoral love corrupts and degrades mankind.