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What is the one emotion that has everyone mystified? What is the one emotion
that has started as many wars as it has ended? What emotion has had more
plays, songs, and stories written about it than anything else? Love, that one
emotion that makes enemies into friends and friends into enemies. So many
legends surround this emotion, from the goddess Athena and Helen of Troy to
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Love comes in so many different levels, that it doesn't appear to be the same
emotion at all, but it is. There is so much to love, that it will be hard to put into
this simple essay. It can tear people apart and make us do irrational things to
bringing together entire nations. What can this emotion not do? It's hard to
tell, but there is a lot it can.

This emotion, bring tears to our eyes when something happens to our family
members, friends, and pets. When we feel love ripped from us, as in death or
being spurned by another, we do things we wouldn't normally do, such as go on
violent rampages, or mourn to the extent that our loved ones have to watch us
constantly to make sure we don't try anything like suicide. Some can move on,
always remembering the lost loved one after a while, but others can not let go.
These are the ones that need our love and suppor t the most.

There are so many levels to love, that I can only express a few of them here.
These are the ones we see most in life. Friendship starts this list off. Yes, it
doesn't seem like it, but we do feel love towards our friends, this is what helps
us get along so well, and why we miss them when we don't see our friends for a
long time. It's also why we hold certain friends over others no matter what
happens. Sometimes, the bond between friends deepens to the point where a
stronger bond of love is made, making them family.

Another level of love, are for our siblings and other family members. Even
though we do things to our family members, and sometimes we don't like some
of our family, that bond is still there. It's this family bond level of love that
brought about the phrase, blood is thicker than water. We will do things for our
brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and children before we would even consider
doing them for anyone else. Many wars have been started because of this family
level, brother avenging brother or father, father protecting his wife and
children, or even vice versa. This simple family bond can even extend to include
our pets, amazingly enough, and that is a good thing.

A third level to love, is the bond that brings man and woman t ogether. This level
is among the strongest of them all. It is this level of love that has brought
together kingdoms into nations in the past, and ended many great wars. It's is
also for the love of a woman that has started a few of our well -known wars, like
the Trojan Wars of ancient times. It's brought together families that have
argued for years and years, such as in the Shakespearean play, Romeo and
Juliet. Even though the two mentioned killed themselves in the end, it still
brought their families together.

The last mentionable level of love is that bond between a mother and her
children. There is no stronger, nor will there ever be. This bond starts from the
very first tiny fluttering of movement and never ends, even after death of the
child. A mother protects her children in the name of love, and directs them
through life using it as the example to follow. Well, at least it should be. It's
because of her children a mother will work at a job she hates, just to make sure
they have everything they could ev er want or need.

The phrase, love makes the world go round is very true. It's is our driving force,
for what ever reason it may be. Poems, plays, and legends can only briefly touch
the true meaning of love. We can only feel what that meaning is, and expre ss it
in ways only we can understand towards another. The true question we should be
asking is not, what is life, but what is love.

What is love? I don't know, but I'll do what I can to express it to my son, my
husband, my family and friends, and to every single pet I have or ever will own in
the best possible way that I can.