What is love? The absence of hatred. or hatred that absence of love. Can you truly love and truly hate at the same time. Hate is not the opposite of love, but the absence of it. Can you actually have no love? Coldness; cold does not exist, according to science cold is the absolute lack of heat. Everything has energy, which is heat, which is why there is no absolute zero. Cold is simply what we have created as what we feel with a minimal amount of heat. There is no antithetic only the absence of things. Darkness is simply what we describe as less light, it does not in fact exist. Love is an antonym of hate simply because it's the closest thing to no love, or complete and utter absence of love. These words are tossed around a lot. How do you determine love or hate, light or dark, hot or cold, rich or poor, black or white, quiet or loud? Where do you draw the line? If I don't love something that doesn't mean I hate it, and vice versa. If we lined up all the people in the world from lightest to darkest, where would you draw the line for blacks and whites? Hatred could easily be what we've created to describe how we feel when there seems to be no love. Love cannot be measured, nor can hate, so do either exist. Someone once told me they didn't believe in things they couldn't see, yet they are scared of AIDS, meaning they believe in it. Some may argue that AIDS can be seen. I argue you can only see the effects of AIDS, how AIDS expresses it's self. Does love exist? Or is what we see as love peoples expressions to show what they feel? We do not see love, we see the expression. I say I can see you walking, but isn't it just simply the act of getting from one place to another, you're only expressing. Even inanimate objects express. If one believes only in what one sees, how does one know what he sees?

On another point... Love is at some point intertwined with friendship. There are strangers, there are acquaintances, there are friends, and there are best friends. The level of relationship depends on the level and type of love. Philo love is fondness, friendly or brotherly love. Agapae love, Godly love. Eros love, physical love or romantic love. Stergo love, affection between parents and children. Our friends, for the most part, fall in Philo. Where do strangers fall? Can we love someone we don't know? As a Christian God calls me love everyone. Is this truly possible? I don't want my love to be watered down and given to everyone, but I don't think thats really what it means. I love a lot of things and a lot of people. What causes us to love? I can tell anyone I love them. I don't tell everyone I love them. Even it's a simple, quick, "love ya!" I mean it, I don't tell people I've just met that I love them. It's not the kind of love you express through saying "I love you." Sometimes it's hard to tell what kind of love you have for someone. Can love leave? I can suddenly stop loving my one friend. I think not, but I believe love can slowly die.
Love it very much like a plant. There are so many different kinds, and so many ways to take care of each. Some can be bred together to make another new kind of plant, but some will always be constant. If you don't water it, then it dries up. If you drop the plant, it won't animatedly die, but eventually it might. If you no longer want the plant to live, it may or may not. The difference is that can be one sided. I could love you, but you could clearly hate me. Circumstances are a big part of everything.
How do you decide to tell someone you love them? I have friends that freely spew "I love you"'s, but then others who save it for the proverbial rainy day. Which is better? Some people also choose to express their love in a nonverbal way. Although this can be miscommunicated sometimes, it can also be better than verbal expression. Some days I could really use a hug, and others just a "love ya" would suffice. Every once in a very great while there will be a time or day when I genuinely wish not to have either of these happen.

This sends me off to hugs. I could write a book about hugs. If I could study one thing for the rest of my life, it would be hugs. Hugs are an entire culture. They can define a person infinitely. Every hug sends a different message, and each one is authentic, and atypical. If words are spoken during a hug that can say a lot, if words are not spoken that can sometimes say even more. The inconsistency of hugs is what makes them, so, undo able. I have no way to explain that last sentence so I'll just leave it be. The decisions involved in hugs are astronomical. The spontaneity of them is my favorite thing. If someone, pretty much anyone, came up to me and hugged me, well it would make my day. If this person had never given me a hug before, well it would be a treat to experience another persons mind, if only for half a second.
The presence of love.