“I love you.” Three small words, one huge impact. Those words mean the world to many people. By saying “I love you” to another person, people often reveal the most vulnerable versions of themselves. Professing your love for another person is no simple task, but means so much, just ask Shakespeare.
Unfortunately, our generation doesn’t know the meaning of “I love you.” We use it so carelessly. We throw it around like a Frisbee. We give out “I love you’s” like Oprah gave out cars on her Favorite Thing’s episode. We just don’t understand it anymore.
For example, I meet new people on a daily basis. I’m in college, so there are new people lurking around every corner. What stumps me is that you could meet someone new, talk to them for all of five minutes, and hear them say “Bye, love you” as soon as you two part ways. I, being an outspoken, loud-mouthed young woman, want to shout back, “BUT YOU REALLY DON’T LOVE ME! PLEASE STOP PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS!”
We seem to think that saying “I love you” serves the same purpose as saying “goodbye;” just another way to part ways. I can’t seem to wrap my head around this. As a kid, I grew up just saying “I love you” to people who I thought should know that I love them. The first time someone who I honestly didn’t care for that much said it to me, I just kind of walked away stunned. Mind you, I was around 10 years old at the time, so everyone thought it was cool to say that to their friends.
I knew this person didn’t actually love me, but what was I to do? At the time, I wasn’t confident enough or outspoken enough to question why they said it. So what did I do? I smiled awkwardly, mumbled something incoherent, and walked away. I’ve been doing that ever since. Every now and then I’ll say it back, but really quickly and uncomfortably.
Personally, I find that “I love you” should be reserved for family members, significant others, or people I really, truly care about. Call me cynical, but I just think that we as a generation use “I love you too” loosely.
We use it so much and so freely that I feel like the phrase has lost its true meaning. We’re constantly playing with each other’s emotions by using a phrase that should have a deeper meaning so arbitrarily.
The day a significanth other at me and says “I love you” for the first time, I’ll probably smile and accept it awkwardly. That’s not to say I won’t ever say it back to him, but I’ll probably wait until I really mean it. I wouldn’t want to say it back to him and not mean it. It wouldn’t be fair to him or myself to lie about my feelings.
This shouldn’t stop you from saying, “I love you” to your friends. If you feel that’s an appropriate way to address your friends, then by all means do it. Don’t let my cynicism and opinion stop you. You do you, booboo.