By Jarlyn Rodriguez
“Listening to this speaker really helped me understand the meaning of love. It’s not about lust and wanting the person just because they are attractive. Love is about wanting someone for their mind and soul, wanting to spend the rest of your life with that person and sacrificing just like Jesus did for us. This St. Valentine’s Day, I hope you all experience this kind of love and joy in your lives that is very pure and precious.” – Rodriguez
Last year, I had the opportunity to go to Steubenville NYC at St. John’s University. At this conference, I got to listen to this amazing speaker that helped influence me with my perspective on love.
The speaker was a woman who basically started out by explaining how in this era the word love is abused and not used as its true meaning. To help her audience understand the true meaning of love, she told us two stories: one about her and her husband, and a story about her friend and how he found the love of his life. She said that love is about finding a person and being able to sacrifice for them just like Jesus did for us.
Her friend, Jimmy found Angela and he was so in love that even when she was diagnosed with cancer, he stood by her side. By the time of their wedding, Angela was only given three months to live and was practically deteriorated. For the couple’s first dance, Jimmy had to carry Angela because she was no longer able stand on her own. He said to her, “you look just as beautiful as you did the day I met you and I will love you forever.”
Jimmy was so in love with Angela not for her body, but for her actual being. Even when Angela was dying, Jimmy stood by her side and loved her until the end. This story helped the listeners see that love isn’t about the anatomy of the body, but about actually having a connection with someone and wanting to care for them until the very end of time.
The last story the speaker told was about how her husband Shawn was a womanizer before he met her. She said that he was all about having fun like any other teenager but once he met her, he changed. Shawn gave up his partying life and actually turned to the church because she was a very religious person. Shawn became so in love that he gave up his old life that was surrounded by negative vibes for the love of his life. This is another thing that helps us understand what love is about – sacrifice. One must be able to give up and sacrifice for the love of their life.
Listening to this speaker really helped me understand the meaning of love. It’s not about lust and wanting the person just because they are attractive. Love is about wanting someone for their mind and soul, wanting to spend the rest of your life with that person and sacrificing just like Jesus did for us. This St. Valentine’s Day, I hope you all experience this kind of love and joy in your lives that is very pure and precious.
Rodriguez is a sophomore at Christ the King H.S., Middle Village. She is a member of the school’s varsity cheerleading and speech and debate teams.
