I think I have a rather more serious view of love than most people. Understand from the start that this is not a topic I have any extensive experience with, so I could be way off here. Bear with me, though.

I have friends who seem to fall in and out of love at the drop of a hat. I know people who seem to be members of some Serious-Long-Term-Partner-of-the-Week club to whose meetings I am not invited. This seems odd to me, as love (as I understand it) is not such a fleeting thing.

It is said that each of us carries with us the seeds of our own destruction. I believe that love means trusting someone else with these seeds. Such a relationship is a precious thing, and also an awesome responsibility, for you too are trusted with another's seeds. This is not something to be taken lightly, a minor emotional attachment which can fade and be replaced within a week or two. Love is much more than that. Love is an evolution of trust, and cannot exist in its absence.

Here's an analogy I came up with to illustrate what I mean. Think about carbon. It's in yer pencil. It's black and kinda porous and rubs off on paper. Now put it under intense heat and pressure, and it becomes something else, a hard, clear gemstone of tremendous value which will not rub off on anything, but instead remains whole, one with its own perfection. It becomes diamond. Diamond is an "evolution" of carbon, just as love is an evolution of trust. They're the same substance, but under certain circumstances, that substance takes on wondrous attributes. It has transformed into something more.

Love, then, is the diamond form of a type of carbon called trust. Carbon deposits do not form in a day. The natural transformation into diamonds is not a quick one. It takes time to earn and to give trust, and love cannot exist without it.

So, then, slow down, I say. Give yourself time to trust and to be trustworthy, and allow love to follow.

These are my thoughts; input is welcome.

-DeThroneD