Specialty Post # 3: An interview with Walt Whitman

1. What does the term "love" mean to you?
-To me, love is when you are willing and able to sacrifice your own happiness for someone else's.

2. What are some of the positive things about being in love?
-If you demonstrate and receive love in healthy ways, it can be extraordinarily fulfilling and gratifying. Having someone or something to love will supplement life with joy and an additional sense of purpose.

3. What are some of the negative things about being in love?
-When we exhibit love to its fullest extent, we reach a state of vulnerability. Due to the fact that we make investments into relationships with our lovers, we become dependent on them to reciprocate by meeting our various needs. If they fall short of such expectations, there is little to buffer us from torturous anguish.

4. How do you know when you are in love?
-To know if you are in love, you must experience both happiness and sheer pain with your partner. Together, if two people can survive challenging times and support each other throughout, they will know that their love is completely genuine.

5. How important to live is love?
-Love is a vastly important part of life, for it adds meaning to our daily routines. In addition, love demands responsibility and forces us to be accountable.

6. Is there a right or wrong way to love?
-No! One of the reasons being in love is such a difficult task is because there is no official rule book to mark right from wrong. We are guided solely but the instincts of ourselves and our trusted advisers.

7. Is love for one's family more important than his or her romantic partner?
-No, for blood relation is not a required family characteristic and we may choose to build our own families.

8. Do you believe in soul mates?
-Yes, but I believe that we are all soul mates for each other. Whether teachers, friends, or people with whom you have random interactions, everyone enters our lives for a reason. Although this does not mean that we are destined to love each other, we are in fact mates who's souls were meant to meet!