One morning not so long ago, a child was born. He was born in a community in Brazil. Soon after birth, every newborn child in that community is left by its mother. Mothers leave her newborn child, having no special bonding with them until the age of one or two years. This fact is impossible to understand in American society. How can mothers leave their newborn children without caring for them? Do they have no feelings? Do they feel no love? Infant death rates are extremely high in their community. Therefore, since they live in very poor conditions and their accessibility to health care is almost non-existent, they have developed a way in which not only do mothers not suffer, but they can take care of their other children that have made it through their most vulnerable age. Are we in the U.S.A. more capable of love because we have different standards and expectations of love? This example illustrates that love is not just to have a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude towards a person. Love is seen and used differently. Love is a word that carries a lot of weight on its back; love comes with a lot of feelings, emotions, and has different connotations throughout the world.
             Since it is difficult to track down emotional traits, love is not fully understood. What is fully understood is what love is not. Love is not expressed when a father leaves his family. Love is not felt when violence takes place at home. It is not out of self-love that women surgically alter themselves to fit particular standards of beauty. What love is, is not very clear, but is it clear that it is the complete opposite of the above? Not quite; love is a concept that describes an emotion; an emotion that differs among people. Love is an expected physical response in a culture that expresses an emotional sensation.
             There are various types of love, different forms of its expression, and different roles that it plays in societies. I would l...