The Four Letters That Spell Cliché

I'm not as oblivious as I let on. When it comes to attraction I mean. My observations have only been heightened by me joining unfortunate the trend of love obsession that has gripped our planet since the early days of college for everyone and Hollywood romance.
I personally break 'love' up into three categories; Love, the constant, forever force that binds two people - transcending, age, race, and sex; Love, the Romance - deep physical attraction and melding of personalities; And Love, the concept.

I've loved and have been loved by a lot of people in the last 20 years. I have more than my share family and friends. Loving people is the greatest thing we can ever do. Period. Nothing else, can bring more meaning to you life, but it's not exactly natural. If you really want to love people you have to abide in the Father's love (It's a Christian thing).

It's sad to say this but I've never experienced romance. I actually had a girlfriend once. It may sound especially mean saying that we never had a true romance but it's the truth. I was really attracted to her and really cared about her, but our relationship lacked what I think a lot of 'romantic' relationship lack, trust. Trust is the underpinning of the melding of two people. Attraction, even compatibility, isn't enough. It's my deepest hope that the mistakes I made didn't permanently hurt her (she's currently engaged so I imagine she has survived without too much damage). The most important thing I learned was that romantic like relationships are like playing with fire: Infinite possibilities await, but misplaced match can burn down the forest.

Most of us have come to know as love more and more as a concept. It's a cruel trade. Few things will leave you more alone than letting the concept of love replace romance and true love. It's so hard not to fall for when it's all around us. Movies, TV series, books, music, they all assault us with personalities in passionate 'love'. It's bait and switch, content creators play off the lonely hearts strewn across the states wanting desperate to feel anything even if it's fake. Just for the price of admission and a little piece of you heart you can feel something for 30 minutes. You can feel valued, respected, adored, even loved if you close your eyes. Once those 30 minutes are up you are left alone, you romance is suddenly called to a halt your friends, in an instant, no longer exist. It's like you are the lone survivor of your own personal holocaust. It leaves you feeling more alone than you were before. It leaves you wanting more.

It wouldn't be quite so horrible if that was the only effect that the conceptualization of love has had on society, but it's penetrated our real relationships. The expectations, hopes, and fears that are implanted into our subconscious day in and day have fundamentally changed everything we knew about love. After all of the money and heart that we have given them, what have our content creators had to say? "Love is being with someone who makes you happy." These 'words of wisdom' fly in the face of true commitment and trust. They literally undermine successful relationships.

I'm unsettled. It should be obvious to anyone who knows me or who is a careful reader that I'm not well balance in the area of love. I don't feel things the same way as other people and I certainly don't have a great history of maintaining relationships with the opposite sex (Girls make me nervous). Help balance me out, I want hear your thoughts on love, leave a comment. Thanks for reading.