Love

Love.

I've heard that there are languages that have different words for love for different types. We could use some of that in English if only to remove rhyming couplets ending in 'from above' from pop tunes.

I don't know about what love is other than the willingness to put oneself at risk for the benefit of someone whose welfare you think is more valuable than your own. But love doesn't necessarily imply devotion. Love can be fleeting, transitory. We love and then we learn, and suddenly the object of our love is not worthy. If we continue to love then we are fools and love becomes cheap. That cannot be love.

Love rewards by its presence. You can love someone or something that does not or cannot return that love, but in that love is not diminished. The reward of love is the feeling that giving brings, it is the acceptance of love by the recipient that rewards.