"Love Kills Slowly"

I saw a bumper sticker today that read "Love Kills Slowly." After reading it, I began to ponder the truth of this statement. Does love actually kill slowly? What is the purpose or objective of love? Is death actually the purpose and the ultimate end of love? If it does kill slowly, then why do people "fall into" it so often, already knowing what the outcome will be?

I think that first of all, one must decide what love really and truly is. As a Christian, when defining love I personally think initially of 1 Corinthians 13. It extensively defines love and provides a long list of attributes and adverbs that love should be associated with. Some of them include: patience, kindness, perseverance, rejoicing in truth, never failing, unceasing, protecting, trustworthy, hopeful and humble. On the other hand, it lists several antonyms of love, including: pridefulness, self-seeking, easily angered, boastful, not delighting in evil, not keeping records of wrongs or offenses, and not rude.

In contrast to the biblical view of love, the world today depicts a completely different or other perspective. By simply going to blockbuster or the movie theater or any other number of places in a city, one may easily realize the truth of the above statement. A popular genre of movies that play upon the hopes and dreams of unsuspecting women, "Chick-Flicks" paint an increasingly inaccurate picture of love and all that it entails. Instead of drawing a view of reality, such movies sketch scenes of fairytale endings and fantasy relationships where the proverbial chips fall into place in just the perfect way to make their dreams come true, with no work on the part of those involved. Likewise, men need only to turn on the television and wait for a commercial to pop up sensualizing everything from wrenches to deodorant and shaving cream and beer. Rather than vehicles simply being vehicles, they are portrayed as tools to attract beautiful women who will give them the time of their lives with no strings attached. In the worlds eyes, love is all the right outcomes to all of people's crazy dreams just when they want them to happen-no sooner, no later. Love is free sex whenever one so desires. Love is "and they lived happily ever after." Love is perfection.

But are these definitions what love truly is? Is this the true meaning of love? Is love sexual passion or is love gentle and tender yearning? Is love wild and short-lived or calm and lasting? Is love all about oneself or about meeting the needs of the other person involved? What is love and how can one know what it truly is?

If love slowly kills, then what about the fairytale endings? Does the passion not continue on unceasingly, or does it instead fizzle out and become null and void via divorce and separation? Is it a one night stand in bed or a lifetime of knowing eye contact and loving hand holding? Who is it all about anyway? Oneself or another?

Love "is not self-seeking." In other words, it promotes the good of another over itself, even if it is detrimental to its own health and happiness. It is not selfish. Rather than putting itself on a pedestal, it kneels in deference to someone else. Love says "it's not all about me" but rather "it's all about you." Love dies to itself to honor and serve another. Maybe the bumper sticker is right after all, but in an unconventional way. Maybe love does kill slowly...