Page 53 - ThePhoenix1991-92

Page 4 Western Maryland College February 14, 1992 Editorial: What is Love? Pondering Ideas ... supreme and said Duke Ellington. "To love is La receive a glimpse of heaven," explained Karen Sunde. "Love conquers all things," assured Virgil, an old Roman JX>Cl. These quotes speak of love as a great, wonderful, magical, happy truth. But how does one know what love is? In today's society, one can turn on the radio at almost anytime of day and hear about someone's never-ending love or the never-ending pains thatlove has caused them. Books, movies, and plays always seem 1Ohave a theme of love running through them. The popular Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, is the story of two young lovers who end up killing themselves because they feel like they can not live without the love of the other. Volunteers pack, because customs regula- What is "love" that it could bring two people to this fate? tions are stringent. The Almost from the lime we can understand English, our parents tell us that one day we will From Page 2 churches have only been al- "fall in love" and get married. How does one know when they are in love? people arc people," he said. lowed 10send dried food such as Is it when you constantly want to be with someone or is that just dependency or obses- "Although we are separated by powdered milk, flour, noodles. sive-compulsive disorder? thousands of miles and live on After the food is packed in Is it when you have the urge to throw someone down on the ground and kiss them pas- different continents, we need to New Windsor it is sent to Balti- sionately or is just that lust or sexual desire? help each other." morc and shipped to S1. Peters- Is it when two people understand and enjoy each other very much or could this just be According to Hartman, this burg Russia. From there the friendship? major undertaking of food relief Russian Orthodox Church takes Looking for some answers this Valentine's Day season, I went to the dictionary and was started by the World Coun- over and distributes the food di- found half a page alone on the definition of love. The most common answer seemed to in- cil of Churches (WCC) which rectly 10 Russian people to clude, "the auracucn, desire, or affection fell for a person who arouses delight or admiration." consists of all the major de- avoid the middle man, black- Attraction, desire, and affection sound like three distinctly different words to me. Maybe nominations in America. mail, and problems with the it is as La Rouchfoucauld says, "There is only one kind of love, but a thousand different ver- When the shortage of food in government. sions." Russia became urgent, the Rus- "Everyone had more fun Historians and anthropologists seem to agree that romantic love, which they define as sian Orthodox Church urged the than they thought they would. the usually brief but intensely felt and all-consuming auracuon toward another person, is Council to become involved. Students want 10 set up another culturally conditioned on top of a biological sex drive, according to a February 1988 issue of The Russian Orthodox Church work session so we are trying to Harper's Magazine. became the link for the World set one up right now," In the 16th and 17th century, passion was ignored and marriages were arranged by par- Council's connection to Russia. Radosevich said. ents. In the 19th century, a romantic movement came about which implied that it was normal Hartman said, the WCC offi- Anyone interested in donat- for young ~en and women to fall passionately in love, and maybe it was abnormal for them cially appointed the Methodist ing money or volunteering to not to cxpcnence it. Church to head the relief efforts pack should contact either to Russia because it already had David Radosevich or Dr. Robert This is certainly an opposite pole from Shakespeare's belief that, "love is merely mad- a major overseas relief program, Hartman. Circle K meets on ness." Would so many people "fall in love" if they had not read, heard, or talked about it? Is romantic love just a societal trend? the Church World Service. Sundays at 7:00 pm at the Leidy Letters were sent to churches Room in Decker above the M. SCOLlPeck, M. D., a licensed psychiatrist, describes love as "the will to extend one- self for the p~rpose of nurturin~ one's own or another's spiritual growth." He explains that telling them exactly what to swimming pool. Q t~is is very ?Ifferen~ from "failing in lov~." Falling in love he explains is a temporary, sex- linked, crouc experience. One of the mam differences between it and "real love" is that one The Phoenix chooses real love. One docs not choose to fall in love, only how to react to having fallen in love. According to Peck, although real love is life-long work, it is more rewarding in the end. Since the majority of the time has been spent talking about romantic love (after all, it is Editor-in-Chid ········, ,•........•• , , Jennifer Scott Valentine's Day), one may ask, "What about love for God, your parents, your friends, your ~~~rurE~:~~:~~~·.::::::::::::::~:::.::::::::::::::~~~~£t~:~ dog, the world, and mankind in general?" Maybe the English language should invent diversities of the word love. We could say, "I care-love you", "1 understand- love you", "I friend-love you", or "I romaruic-Iove you". Sports Editor , ,., Ed Rigling The Greek language made an auempt at this. They have three words for love. "Eros" is Arts & Entertainment Editor " Demetrt Lambros a sort of romantic love. "Phili~" isa sort of inttmate affecuon between personal friends where Photography Editor Bob Kirkendall a person loves because.he/she IS loved. Th~ highest form of love, "agape" means understand- Cartoonist " " , Mike Jenkins ing redeeming good will for all people. It ISan overflowing love which seeks nothing in rc- Faculty Advisor " Terry Dalton turn. Student Advisor ., Andrea Covington Tagorc seems to sum up love the only way I am beginning to feel it is possible. "Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it." The Phoenix. is published bi-weekly. The opinions expressed Should ~e just enjoy the joyous magical feelings of romantic love that our society has so do not necessarily reflect those of Phoenix staff members, the fortunately given us the freedom ~o do or should we question its true origination and exist- faculty, or the adminisuauon at Western Maryland College. ence? 1 leave this for you 10 decide ... HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Q The Phoenix welcomes free-lance submissions on Macintosh or IBM disk in most word processor formats. The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity, length and liable, and will be Burglary the crime. Locks have been changed to the published as space permits. Letters to the Editor that are one Since the incident, Book- Bookstore. page, typed, and double-spaced are guaranteed publication in From Page I the upcoming issue. The editor reserves the right to edit for store security has increased. A Also, above the ceiling be- liable. ing tiles in the bathroom and new safe has been purchased. tween the bathroom and the (excluding diskettes) entered the Bookstore through The old safe was an antique Bookstore, a dry wall is being All submissions of The Phoenix self-addressed be returned. become the property and cannot its ceiling tiles. The next morn- which dated back to the time constructed. ing Bookstore employees found Western Maryland was a rail- If anyone has more informa- Please include a name and phone number for verification. a ceiling tile out of place. mad. tion on this matter, please con- Address mailto: The Phoenix The Westminster City Po- Moreof the doors within the tact the Bookstore or Campus 2 College Hill Western Maryland College lice are presently investigating Bookstore are locked now. Safety. 0 Westminster, MD 21157