Love

What would you like to learn on your time on earth?

By Erin Koury

What’s the true meaning of love? Love can only be defined by the person feeling it. Any other attempt to define it, is useless. Why does it exist if it can make or break a person? Some people say because it's the best feeling in the world, some people say because it's something they can’t live without. How can there be so much happiness yet so much pain in one feeling? It’s simple because with love, it can never be forced.

What is love and how can we define it? Love is considered as one of most precious and greatest gifts of all. Love plays a major role in each one of our lives by the surrounding people such as family, friends, and significant others. It is the one emotion that keeps everyone mystified.

Love displays its own meaning in different ways. For example, relationship such as a mother and her child, a man and his woman, a brother and sister, and friends.

Take a mother's love for instance, no one's love can compare to a mother's love for her child. There is no stronger love, nor will there ever be. This bond starts from the very first tiny fluttering of movement and never ends, even after death of the child. A mother’s love is countless and precious to the extent that nothing can replace it. A mother will always be there for her child through thick and thin, even when the rest of the world isn’t there. A mother's love is shown through her heart in thoughts of giving and never expecting anything in return. She will do anything to make her children happy and safe even if that means making difficult sacrifices and putting herself last.

Another kind of love is a brother and sister's love. It wasn’t recently until me and my brother became close to each other. We used to always fight and we never got along. We grew closer because of a good friend of mine, I saw how he was with his sister, and it was unbelievable how close they were. It made me sit and have a deep conversation with my brother and at that moment, I realized no matter how many people walk in and out my life, he'll always be there, even if he doesn’t want to. A brother and sister's love doesn’t just happen, you’re born into it. Its more then just friendship, it's trust. Blood is thicker than water. Brothers and sisters will do things for family in a heartbeat as opposed to doing the same things for others, where they may hesitate.

Friendship is defined by the quality of one's heart. Friendship is not about a matter of judging by ones own appearance, but rather by the inner beauty. It’s not someone's status or their character. Friendship is about reaching out and putting smiles on other people’s faces out of pure goodness.

As a kid growing up I always longed without my father. My mother always seemed miserable without a man in her life and still does to this day. I guess she feels she needs one to make her complete. The only problem is she never seems happy. She never shows the true happiness that one shows when they're in love. I've never even seen my mom truely happy with a man. She always told me about a previous relationship she had before I was born and I think that was her true love.

As a joke one day my uncle decided to play the role of an oracle so I started asking all types of questions. One question I got many answers to was about love. I was curious about the true meaning behind it, to only realize there are a lot of different meanings. The one meaning that stuck in my head was that love has caused humans to do some of the most amazing beautiful things but has also caused humans
to some of the most horrific things. Everyone seems to long for love with someone, but then they either take it for granted or have it taken for granted.

“When you find the one you’ll know but don’t go looking for love, if you're looking for love you'll be disappointed more often then not," my mommy always said to me. I never believed it. I thought, "what does she know about love when she's never happy?" It wasn’t until recently when I started believing it, because I was out looking for it but somehow ended up continuously disappointed. And then one day when I wasn’t looking for it, it just simply happened.

When we claim it's love that we have, are we correct? Are your palms sweaty, is your heart racing, or is your voice caught within your chest? Does it feel like no one else matters? Do you get those jumpy butterflies in your stomach every time you hear his or her voice?

On the other hand, there’s the type of love where it hurts. It makes you cry yourself to sleep at night. It has you at the point where you don’t want to eat and you can’t sleep. When we feel love is ripped from us, as in death or being spurned by another, we do things we wouldn't normally do, such as go on violent rampages, or mourn to the extent that our loved ones have to watch us constantly to make sure we don't try anything like suicide.

Love itself has started many wars, as it has ended many wars. Love is that one emotion that can turn enemies into friends and friends into enemies. What can love not do? It's hard to tell, but there are a lot of things it can do. Love is rare, but if you live life, you need to love yourself first, and then love will find you much easier.

Why is it that love is all we search for in life? The happiness? The feeling of commitment? The pain? The agony? Why is it all we long for? The answer is simple, because its love. It’s such an addiction that even people who are not having it wish to experience and share it. In conclusion, true love can only be earned and given, it can't be bought nor sold. In all, the secret to receive love is to give back.

Nature Has its Ways of Handling Things

Nature has its Ways of Handling Things

by a Writing in the Sky author who wishes to be anonymous

Nature really does serve justice. As if it were watching us and the things we do. Nature has feelings just as well as humans. When I was little, I always enjoyed playing with fire. I used to gather up all the dry leaves put them in a pile and light them up. The flames would just mesmerize me. For this reason I begged my parents to buy me a fireplace for Christmas. One day when I was eleven or twelve I was walking down the street with my friends. When I noticed a small bush to the side of the pavement. It just so happened I had matches on me. So I lit up two of the matches and burned one of the leaves sticking out. I wasn't satisfied. I barely got a chance to see the little fire. That led me to lighting up the whole book, throwing it in the middle of the bush. I stood still waiting, watching the smoke rise from the bush. That's when all of a sudden the whole bush blew up in flames. I stood there watching the fire and the bush burn. In the same way as if it were a delicious meal, practically drooling on myself. That's when my friends called "come on lets go before someone comes." So I ran not even looking where I was running. I was still turned toward the fire. When Bam I ran right into a stop sign. Thus making a huge gash over my eye. My face was dripping with blood. I had to go to the hospital to receive four stitches. Nature got me back good. She taught me a lesson, the hard way. Karma does come back around. Nature truly is one of the most powerful things.

Cheerleading

By Shamika Hinnant

There is something strangely exhilarating about being under stadium lights on a Friday night in October. The sky is dark, and the only light on the field is coming from shining poles above. The fresh cut smell of grass and the look of tall field goal posts’ fill my heart with joy. This wonderful sport that I am speaking of is cheerleading! It’s who I am. It’s my passion and the air that I breathe. I have never loved anything more. When I first started cheering, I did it so I could go to football games for free, and so I wouldn’t be bored sitting at home. But now, I would rather die than do anything else.

My freshman year, I didn’t cheer because I was nervous and timid. Sophomore year, when I came out of my shell, I decided to go for it. No matter how nervous I was. I tried out twice for the team. But I stayed on as an alternate and improved myself. Later that week, I was given my uniform! Two years later, and I’m still on the team.

Being a cheerleader is the best feeling in the world. From my sophomore year until now, being on a football field was my home. Cheerleading made me feel like I broke barriers, mostly because; cheerleaders are stereotyped as being sizes twos, fours, and sixes. I am proud to say that I am none of those! Since my first day, two years ago, I knew that I had found my true love and home.

Through the years, I have found it increasingly difficult to tell my friends what exactly make me want to be on a football field at night, in fifty degree weather. They smile when I tell them it’s because I have a love for the sport. Cheerleading for me is a haven. It’s a place where I can shine, simply by lifting people’s spirits.

Cheerleading is about being a part of something. For me, it’s lifting a football player’s spirits after a lost game, and having the satisfaction of knowing I help put a smile on his face. It’s a sense of belonging. We may fight at times, but the feeling of connectedness between me and my teammates is uncanny to any other. Football players and fans are forever a part of my life, and I, am a part of theirs.

Welcome to Writing in the Sky

Rene Magritte, The Lovers


Hello writers of 072!

This is the place to post your writing-- essays, stories, poems!

And if you don't mind, I'll post some things, like the painting above, for your consideration. What do you think of this painting? Wild, huh? I know some of you are interested in LOVE. When I saw this painting in high school, I wrote a poem about it.

Let me know if you want your essay up here. Send it to me in a Microsoft Word document. Think about what visual you want to go with your writing. Send that to me too. Some of this we can do in lab, when there's time.

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Professor Hebert