All You Need Is Love

Lots of people ask me if I think I will marry my girlfriend in the future. I've been with her for two years almost, and people want to know if I think I'll spend the rest of my life with her. Though I almost always answer "I don't know", the real answer is yes. Yes of course I will marry her. We will live together in a small cottage in Wales and have three children named Bethsemene, Jock and Harry. And it will rain on my birthday. Love is a funny thing. People have huge arguments about its nature, and the only thing people seem to be able to agree on is the fact that it is massively complicated. The problem is that everyone's experiences have shaped the way they look at love, and so no two people have exactly the same concept of what it is to love, to be loved and to have loved. Philosophers, politicians, celebrities, writers, explorers, scientists. Everyone, famous or not, has their own view of Love and, to a certain extent, believes completely that they are right. And so they should because, to a certain extent, they simply are. When people ask me if I think I will marry my present girlfriend, I mean to say yes because to me that is what a relationship is about. I cannot understand people who would go into a relationship and not be confident about it, and not want it to endure forever. Someone once asked me to rate the seriousness of the relationship out of 10. If I answered any less than 10, I reasoned, was there any point in me continuing the relationship? Really? Because if I know that I plan to leave here in the future, there is little to dissuade me from leaving her now. And if I don't marry her? I will be depressed for some time. It won't be a good thing, but at least I will know that I pushed for the ending that I believed in. I don't profess to be perfectly correct. I'm not saying you should accept this as the truth. But for me - me, personally - that is one of Love's key aspects. It's ability to endure. That said, many people do not believe true love exists. I've listened to arguments between friends who think that Love is just a feeling of being content. It's completely selfish - you only go out with someone because they make you happy. You do not want to make them happy. Then there are those who believe in Love at first sight, those who would not consider a relationship with anyone they have known for more than a few months. There are those who are over-protective of their loved ones, and those who are too loose. There are those that are afraid of commitment, and those that are afraid of rejection. We are all being controlled by how we perceive love. I don't want to preach my views on Love. Most of you, I'm sure, wouldn't take them on board anyway. But just as I cannot explain why you love the people that you Love, I cannot explain how you should Love them either. But there is one dangerous thing that I would warn you against. Love is personal - you can't relate to my love and I cannot relate to yours. But what you must make sure is that the choices you make are your own. The fairytale happy ending, the Hollywood romantic embrace - it doesn't matter what ending you are aiming for. What you mustn't do is to let what you think should happen getting in the way of what should be happening. Love is personal, but you must make sure it is Love that is ruling you, not a desire to achieve, to succeed in Love. I know many people who have all become worried or depressed about Love. Making the right choice and enjoying it for the rest of your life will never be surpassed. It doesn't matter about the others around you think. It doesn't matter about what you had dreamed would happen. It doesn't matter about what you're being told should be happening. Quite frankly, nothing matters as long as you can tell yourself - not anyone else - that you believe that this is what Love is and this is what you want it to be. At the end of the day All you need is love.