What has love got to do with this? Well, nothing, but everything. The misuse of the word “love” in our society is sickening. Said far too often, yet not enough still, love is a word that has become tainted, thrown around here and there without a second thought. Love is a junk drawer word, used for many different things, with little meaning. What used to be a word that would stir one’s heart is now used to describe someone’s feelings on the newest ice cream flavor or Justin Bieber song.

In the original Greek language, there are four words for love, with four separate meanings: phlia, which refers to friendship, or brotherly love, and the loyalty to family and friends; storge, which refers to a “natural affection”, such as parents’ love for a child; eros, which refers to sensual desire and physical attractions, often sexual; and lastly agape, which refers to unconditional and sacrificial love. As a society today, love is frequently used by those who love pizza, love their comfortable pillow, love their Xbox, etc. As a society, we are bad about telling people, those we should love, about how we love them.

If you went through the text messages of dating students in high school, a large number of goodbyes would end in “I love you!” But really, do they love their boyfriend or girlfriend of three months? Have they found love in high school, at age sixteen or seventeen, when they are barely old enough to drive? Have they found the same love that countless adults spent their whole life in search of? It is possible to find love young, but not many people throwing around “I love you’s” understand sacrifice, and unconditional love.

You hear people talk about love, and that “feeling” you get when you’re love drunk. People spend years searching for their “soul mate”, for that person that will share in their feelings of love, forever. However, love is not a feeling, but an action. Love entails commitment, sacrifice, and working to make things better for the your “lover”. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Actions speak louder than words, so show someone you love them, and don’t bother wasting your breath with empty words.