The SoapBox

I Don't Really Know

by cat, age 14

I don't really know about love, maybe because I never fell in love with a special guy before. I "liked" lots of guys in my past and no doubt I will in the future, but right now, the present, I don't know. I'm friends with lots of guys and girls, but I never really loved a guy before. But who knows? Maybe someday I will fall in love with a special guy who cares about me and who will do anything for me and who is kind, loving, caring, and understanding. Who knows if I will fall in love one day, but for now I'm in high school and I want to focus on becoming a famous doctor and studying really hard. There will be a time for guys, but for now high school is on my mind. One thing I can say about love is that it is a gift and an amazing feeling which we share with family, friends, and a Mr. Right. Good luck, girls and guys. Watch out for me. I was told I'm really pretty and smart. Love is special.

Untitled

by Anonymous, age 18

When it's realy love, it can make you feel absolutely invincible. You glow from within and radiate this incredible bliss. The whole world seems brighter and fuller. It's as if you're experiencing everything for the first time. And when you're with that special someone whom you love, you feel beautiful, even when you know you're not. Love can also be complicated and hurt enormously. Sometimes, life and circumstances make love so much more complex and difficult to understand, and it can even make you want to throw in the towel. But at the end of the day, if it's real and genuine love, all those tears and all of the effort won't go to waste. I promise: it will be worth it.

Love Is Special

by Charlie, age 11

I believe in love at first sight, but before I get into that, I didn't believe in love at a young age. But one day when I walked into school, I turned, and I met him. He was beautiful, and I just liked him. After we got together, my stomach fluttered around him. It was soon when I found out that I loved him. He is great, kind, and I think he is the one. I try not to love, but love couldn't keep me down. I told him that I loved him, and he smiled and said he loved me, too. :) I would give my life for him.

Love

by Han, age 16

Love at first sight is most definitely a very real thing. "Love at first sight" is often inaccurately portrayed to be a senseless, baseless thing which comes about solely because two people "looked at each other and fell in love," as if they were destined to be together. In reality, it is simply falling in love with someone because we can see in them the things that most attract us or that we can relate to, or other things that make us fall in love.

Granted, being "in love" is certainly not the same as loving someone. Being in love is a very strong emotional attraction we feel toward a person because they appeal to the things that we look for in ourselves. Loving someone, however, means that we have been through more with each other than just being together and having a good time. It means being ready and willing to die for a person and to sacrifice ourselves for their happiness or their momentary enjoyment, for their own good. It is a more deep-seated thing than being in love. True love feels like the world is at peace and we are at peace. We feel that we are able to conquer the world because someone loves us. It is the feeling of content in just being with a person and knowing that you would in a moment sacrifice your own happiness for theirs, to make joint decisions and compromise and put their desires before your own, but you would also lay down a firm hand when they are harming themselves. Love, in its purest and truest form, is the exact same thing for every person. That is why it is called love, it is one word that is used for everyone. Love is an entity unto itself that takes a stroll around the world and goes to sleep at times.

Love is the only reason to get married. Marriage should have only one purpose, and that is to have a physical representation of your love for a person and your decision to commit to them for the rest of your lives. It should not be about money and other trivial things. Marriage in its truest sense is the symbol of commitment, the ceremonial representation of the fact that a couple devotes themselves to one another.

Love for humanity is somewhat different from love for an individual. Love for humanity means forgiving it for its faults and hungering for a better world, and working towards it as well. Loving a person is a different thing, it is committing oneself to them and sacrificing your happiness for theirs. In virtue the two are the same but they cannot be, for loving one person is very different from loving everyone. We should love everyone in the sense of trying to understand their faults and wanting to make them happy at our own expense, but loving one person is a much more personal matter. Love is the only thing that matters in the world.

If we lost everything and got to keep love, the world would be perfect. We would be living as we were meant to live. If everyone loves each other despite the fact that we are all living and sleeping on the dirt, why does this matter? If people are camping with no modern commodities but it happens to be a group of people who love each other, they are truly happy. If a group of people are working in a company together with all the technical gadgets in the world and all the money anyone could ever hope to make, they are still not happy. Love is what makes them happy. The sacrificing of themselves to serve others and receiving the same in return is what truly brings happiness. Aside from the necessity of food and nutrients to keep our physical bodies alive, love is the only thing that we need. We are all looking to be happy aren't we?

I love humanity while despising it with every fiber of my being. I love my family but do not obey them. Someone telling you they were a sincere, caring person never made anyone love them. It is the observance of these characteristics in their lives that convinces us of their genuineness. We fall in love with these characteristics, but only after we have seen them in action, or can otherwise tell that they are genuine. Simply looking at a person tells so many things. Without a word uttered, we are able to see who this person is. Oftentimes, it is the words themselves that are the sources of confusion and misunderstanding. The world in a silent movie would most likely be more harmonious and loving than the world of today.

How

by Elena, age 15

Love: Cliche. How else to say it? Does it exist? I've never been in love. How would I know? Do I expect the right things or do I not know what to look for? Who hypes it up that much? Hasn't everyone heard "my toes started to tingle"? who cares? I'm me, not him.

Love

by Carolina, age 14

I don't believe in love at first sight. I definitely think it's intense infatuation. In fact, I don't really know if powerful and binding love is really as commonplace as it seems. You could say I'm confused at age 14. I think that if there really is love out there, it's incredibly hard to find. And I think that a lot of times even the strongest love can fall apart. I mean, you hear about cheating all the time. And you also hear about how it was "just a slip up and will never, ever happen again." I don't think if you're in a marriage like that you can call it love, not the TRUE kind.

Sometimes

by melicu, age 14

I don't believe in love at first sight because love is not something that just happens when you first see someone pretty, but after you get to know that person and really begin to love that person for who they are. But yeah, in almost all cases love sucks because it will always end up in heartbreak, whether it's a simple crush, steady relationship, or even marriage. It's all going to end because no matter what, those people will be separated, whether it's from a mistake, betrayal, or even death. But someone in the relationship will have to suffer, or even both people will suffer (except of course for the death thing, there only one person suffers). Yeah, my conclusion is that love hurts... but I hope whoever reads this that they find Mr. Right and fall in love and lives happy for the rest of their days.

Miss

by 97makeup, age 13

No! You need to know what a person really is like to fall in love with them! You can't fall in love with looks!

Soul Mate

by Hales, age 16

This is a poem I wrote at the end of 2009. It's more of the bad side of relationships, but I thought it might relate to someone else.

Where did we go wrong?
We've known each other for so long
I thought that everything would turn out right
But I was proven wrong on that one bad night
The first could have been a misunderstanding
Maybe I was just too demanding
But why should I blame it all on myself
When you can just put my heart on a shelf
Forgotten about until a later date
I was dumb to think we could be soulmates.

I've heard that the third time is the charm
So of course I'd think, "What's the harm?"
When I put my heart on the line...
When I think that I'm one-of-a-kind...
You prove me wrong as you always do
I just want to say that I love you
Why that is, I do not know
Even when unwanted, it will always show
All I want is to give you all my hate
I was dumb to think we could be soulmates.

We've been together once before
But now I like you even more
Again and again have I tried
To give my feelings a joyful ride
Trying to express myself to you
But not a word you said was even true
I wish that I could just move on
From my head, I want you gone
I guess all I have left to do is wait
I was dumb to think we could be soulmates.

The downward spiral in which I'm going
Along with the arrogance that you are showing
Makes me wonder why I'm in this predicament
Maybe if you could just give me a hint
Most of my nights I cannot sleep
For in my mind, you, I usually keep
Is there really a point to my persistence?
Or should I obtain some resistance?
Right now I just want to wipe off the slate
I was dumb to think we could be soulmates.

Light/Dark

by Opal, age 13

Love: Happily ever after, a wonderful feeling, always perfect. Right? Wrong. Let's say that life is the 'light' and death is the 'dark.' Love is exactly in the middle. When you're in love, you want someone so much that you literally are in pain. You can spend hours crying, sobbing, because you know this person doesn't love you. So why do people fall in love? Because with the dark comes the light. When you're not feeling the darkness, you're feeling unnaturally happy. A soaring joy that goes against all laws of nature. Love is sort of like the bipolar emotion. Not all love has to be this way. Some love is all good. But the true kind, the passionate kind, nearly always involves dark. Both the light and the dark of love are unnatural, almost unreal, which simply proves: love is pure magic.

Love

by Mitchie, age 11

Yes, I believe in love at first sight. Sometimes you seem to know a person after only seeing them one time.

Settling For Less (Confusion)

by Lily, age 12

My friend asked a guy out for me. He's sweet and has adorable brown eyes. I wasn't crushing on him before, though. He made me realize that the guy I was crushing on should be my FRIEND and not my boyfriend. Anyway, my boyfriend was sweet at first, but over time, he started to treat me like a friend, not a girlfriend. I might just like him; we're not as tight as we should be. But I might also love him and want to be with him as a girlfriend, a date. I wonder: should I settle for less and let him be? Should I ask for more from him? Should I leave him? If I leave him, will I be a lonely girl searching for love while no boys I know have a passion for me? I wonder: should I settle for less love or less confusion? I'm certain other girls face the same problems I do.

It Depends

by Chili, age 12

Well, it depends on what kind of person you are. Everyone's definition of love is different, and it's the same with the belief in true love and love at first sight. For me, I believe in all of it. I say there is love at first sight. I think that it isn't the strongest type of love, but it's there. I also believe in true love. I think that true love is when two people would do anything to make each other happy. They would sacrifice things in their lives for the other person. And I think you can tell if you're in love by when they tell you they love you and your heart tingles and you get butterflies, or when someone says your name and all you can do is smile. Also, you can tell you're in love if the person is all that you think about. But like I said before, this is what it means to me. Find out what love means to you.

Who Knows

by Amilyn, age 15

At first I thought love was just a load of bullcrap, but it's not. It's used a lot. It's said when it's not meant. People think they mean it. You think you're in love, but you just have some little girl crush. I guess when I get older I will understand, but love is putting someone first. Thinking they are beautiful no matter what they look like. Listening to them when they talk. And putting up with the little annoying things they do.

To Love. To Be In Love.

by Nicole, age 13

Love to me is when you and that special someone have been through so much together. To love, you must trust, and you must also be trusted. Without friendship in love, that love will quickly fade away. To be "in love" is a whole different story. Being "in love" most likely means that the person you're "in love" with has your heart and always will. Once you're "in love," it's extremely hard to fall out of it, and it never completely goes away... more like it stays at the bottom of your heart, where you hope it stays if for some reason the one you're "in love" with doesn't feel the same. Which, from experience, sucks very much.

When you're "in love," it feels as if everything in the world is exactly where you want it to be. You see yourself as one of the most happy people on Earth! To be "in love" is when you love that person so much you would do anything to make them happy, even if it means making you unhappy. You would take a bullet for them and cherish every second you are together. Being "in love" and Love itself are two of the strongest emotions. People spend their whole lives searching for love, and once they find it... it's like nothing can stop them. Love is beautiful, but it can also be very painful. So be careful who you love and who you fall "in love" with! (:

Romeo and Juliet

by Jean, age 15

Being a Shakespeare fan, I've read/seen the romantic tragedy known as Romeo and Juliet. When I was younger, I was assigned to read this play and write a five-page essay on it. All I could think about while reading it... was that it was unrealistic. No one just glances at someone and suddenly falls in love. There's no such thing as "love at first sight." That's called lust. After I finished it, I questioned why this Shakespeare guy was so freakin' popular. I couldn't even understand what he was trying to say! I was young, therefore I didn't understand it very well. I didn't care to look into the detail. I failed the essay.

We then were forced to watch the mvoie (1996 version). All I could think was, "This is torture! Why do we have to learn about this crap? It's so unrealistic and stupid!" Heh, but then came a certain part in the movie where Romeo first sees Juliet. I didn't want to be interested, but I already knew I was.

I didn't start to show any further interest until two years later when we studied Shakespeare once more. We went and saw the tragedy performed live in a performing arts center.

I fell in love. I really did. Today I still criticize my younger self for such foolish thoughts about this story. I then learned more about the Shakespearean language and reread the play. Four times. That's right. And each time I understood something different.

Romeo and Juliet has made me laugh, angry, and cry. I never thought I could feel something like that about something so simple. I then realized what I wanted in my future.

I believe in love at first sight, and I think it's something special. Some people take advantage of it, and it's painful to watch. I still cringe at the thought of seeing Romeo drink the poison. But, fate takes its toll, and everything happens for a reason.

I do feel kind of sad that I've been in love, but not their type of love. Their love is unique, just like everyone else.

Love at first sight can be true, but I don't think people can understand it. Or see it for that matter, heh. I wish to one day feel what Juliet felt for Romeo.

"...For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet... and her Romeo." ♥

No

lyss, age 12

Love at first sight is silly. If you ask someone to date you just because they look good, they your relationship will not last long.

Being In Love!

Daisy, age 18

I didn't believe in love at first sight or anything until I met my boyfriend two years ago.

Once you meet someone you love, it changes the way you see everything, including yourself! Everything has to include them. You find ways to make sure you can be together as much as you can!

The feeling of being in love is hard to describe. It's the little things, like getting butterflies in your tummy before meeting them or talking on the phone, etc. It's knowing they are there for you regardless of everyone else in your life. It's being able to talk to them and feel like you are the only two people that matter in the world! It's wanting to give them the world. It's about trusting them with your whole life! It's about loving them unconditionally, even if you argue. You should be able to look across a crowded room and see that person even if there are thousands of other people.

I don't know about loving someone you haven't spoken to. I wouldn't have thought so, though, beecause to really be in love, it isn't about what they look like. It's how they treat you. It's the way they make you feel deep down!

After nearly two years of being with my boyfriend, next February he wants to ask me to marry him, so I do believe that love is a reason to get married! If I didn't love him, I wouldn't even have discussed the idea.

Even if you don't believe in love at first sight, never give up on love. There's definitely someone for you, everyone. You just have to find them!

Love

Kamie, age 15

I'm a strong believer in love at first sight. I have felt it myself, and it isn't just infatuation. I met a boy this summer, and all it took was just one look for me to fall head over heels for him.

I think love should be the number one reason you marry someone. Why marry them if you don't love each other? I think love can strike at any moment: in Driver's Ed., class, or even in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. All it takes is just one look into the right person's eyes, and you fall madly in love with them. They are all you can think about, and if God had you look into each other's eyes like that, it must mean something.

Love can be for many things. You can love your parents and siblings. You can love the stuffed animal you sleep with every night. Any parent will tell you: the moment you look at your child's eyes, you are in love without even talking to them. Love can be for anyone or any thing. You just have to believe. :)