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Love and connection can be found in every aspect of life. Through hardships and world chaos to friendships and relationships, connection is found. In a time of isolation, this connection is more important than ever.
“Love is just like when you kind of give a part of yourself to someone else or something else,” said senior Adam Cox. “It’s not just you anymore, it requires a lot of vulnerability.”
Everyone shows love to those they care about in different ways. From handmade gifts to just spending time with one another, love can be found.
“Just being there when one of us needs us,” said junior Emily Wheeler. “When one of us is sad or upset, the other one is immediately like, ‘I’ll be right there.’ We make sacrifices for each other.”
Love can also be shown by just being present and validating the other person.
“Validation and empathy,” NS Teacher Sterling Whipple said. “I can think of no better way to truly show somebody that you love them than to take a part of who you are, pull it out and present it to them and say, I understand with you, I’m here with you.”
Being there and supporting each other helps to build a connection, allowing both people in the relationship, whether it’s romantic or platonic, to feel loved.
“Your best life is lived when you have a good support system. We encourage each other to become better people,” Wheeler said.
Love and the bonds/connection that it forms help to improve and lift everyone who is affected by it up.
“We are a pack species. We are not meant to be alone,” Whipple said. “We’re not designed to be alone, whether by God or through evolution, either way we’ve been created in a way that feeds off of each other. In a dualistic, positive feedback loop that improves everybody, lifts everybody together.”
By having those connections, we can serve others and give back to the community.
“I want to help people a lot and that’s one of the best ways that I show love,” said senior Liz Madsen.
While the connection aspect of love is important on its own, it also aids the developmental process in teenagers ages ten to twenty-four.
“High school is a training ground for adulthood. It’s important for high schoolers to experience love,” Whipple said. “Now of course the most exciting part of that is the boyfriend/girlfriend type infatuation. But more importantly, from a developmental standpoint is kids being modeled to what appropriate love looks like and it should be happening in the home.”
While it is important to have that love in the home, we can find that love in almost every aspect of our lives. In friends, mentors, romantically, etc. that valuable connection is seen and will impact the people in the relationship.
“We depend on each other and the impact that we have is that we encourage each other to become better people.” Wheeler said.
Even if this all just sounds like some cheesy Hallmark card, we all feel and share different types of love for those we care about. Love is something that can be found in every aspect of life and the connections that love creates are invaluable.
