The question “what is love” is a question by many. A question that has no definite answer and a question everyone wants to know the perfect answer. The bible has its answer to this question too. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us that “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” Others think that love is something else. Whatever definition you have about love, one thing is for sure: that love is a concept, and idea, a belief.
I would like to stress my idea about love. That love is a concept. Although there are many types of love as what we can read in literature, I would be talking about the love that lovers have, the kind of love that people who are in an intimate relationship have. Love as love.
It is common to hear from someone who is in love to say the words “I love you” and “I love you too” is the most appropriate response in a conversation. But somehow, the question of why and how seems to be forgotten. Why do you love the person? How did you know it was love that you felt and not something else? Other people might say that love can never be explained, it is something that one can just feel. My question is, what exactly did you feel? “Love” Perfect! But I really don’t get it. So I asked some of my friends the same old question, “what is love”.
One of them told me that “love is when I feel secured with someone, love is when I feel happiness, and love is when I ask for nothing else as long as I have him”. Another told me that “love is when you find yourself smiling just sitting beside him; love is when you don’t care about the world as long as you are with him, and love is a mutual feeling shared by two people.” Other answers had the same thought, almost everything were positive except the answer of someone who loved me before: “love is sacrifice”.
When I asked then how can they tell that it is already love, they told me situations that would tell them that it is already love. Conditions that if were met and fulfilled, and then they say that they are already in love. But, if suddenly everything changes, then love changes. For example, someone related love to happiness and when she feels happy whenever she is with that person then she is in love. But what if she is not happy anymore? Is it safe to conclude that she is not in love? Or was she ever in love in the first place? Another situation is that one interprets love if a person shows too much care. What if that person gets too busy or it is natural for that person to be caring. The latter one can sometimes lead to assumptions, rejection and hard feelings. So, if the things that you relate love to do not happen anymore, then it would mean that love does not exist anymore. And since there no mo love, then your concept of love cannot be met anymore. Therefore, love is a concept.

Viruses are alive if and only if they are inside a host cell. They cannot live and multiply without a host cell. Viruses get everything they need in the host cell leaving the cell weak, but not dead. With such characteristics, humans are like viruses. To know more about viruses, you can read this article from wikipedia.

Unlike other parasitic organisms such as fungi, bacteria and nematodes that consume all the nutrients of their host resulting to wilts and necrosis, viruses do not get everything from their host plant, instead they allow the host to live but almost dying. Viruses alter their host cells’ so that they can survive leaving the host cell weak or damaged. This is evident in the symptoms that an infected organism show. Like humans, we change our environment in a form that suits us best.

The high technology, highly industrialized, and a very comfortable living that humans enjoy today are results of humans’ efforts to change their environment, to live life the way we want it to be. Just live viruses, changing its environment to suit its needs. And what happens to the environment? Damaged? Weak? Diseased perhaps. But do people care about this?

Instead of us, humans, adjusting and adapting to the environment that we have, it is the environment that we change to adapt for us. The flattening of the mountains for subdivisions, the invention of air conditioning systems to control room temperature, the rise of oil-intensive factories to provide the needs and wants of the people, the increasing number of cars dashing along the highways, and many more. Such activities have made life for humans comfortable. Such activities have altered the environment. Such activities have made the environment weak, damaged, and destroyed.

And how can we see these if the environment is supposed to show symptoms? Is there evidence of this? Maybe there’s none. But have you read the news lately? Have you seen the several calamities that have occurred? The issues of global warming, true or false may not alarm you but maybe you might have observed how polluted your air is. Or have you noticed how your water now is treated compared to several years ago? Or have you ever felt that the sun is getting hotter and hotter and that the number of heavy rains and flash floods increased? Or you just don’t care or maybe you do care but can’t do anything about it? Try to ask yourself, have I really adapted to the environment? Or have I made the environment adapt for me?

I practically manage four blogs now:

The Thinking Beans
Yami No Matsuei’s Blog
Yami No Matsuei’s Hangout
UPLB Tubaw

and now I am setting up a new blog again:

AgreeCulture Today

wherein I will be writing agriculture related articles and information that I learned from school or have read from the internet or other sources. I am also planning to include the topics that we have discussed in class. In a way, I will be able to have my review and be able to refresh my memory on the things that we have discussed in class. Not only that, I would also be able to share the knowledge and information that I got from school. Maybe, just maybe I can help others just by doing so. I hope if you have time you visit this site: http://www.agreeculturetoday.com. I haven’t posted anything on the site yet but hopefully I would be able to post many articles by next week.