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As human beings, when we fall into love, we search endlessly for symbols of it. We turn to the time-honored traditions thereof, roses, diamonds, candies and cards in an endless bid to find something, anything, that can fully express what we feel. We hope that, even if but for a fleeting moment, that something we hold can express what tomes of poetry and years and millenia of modern romance has never been able to touch.

This quest pushes us to do strange and desperate things. In such a commercialized society, we spend billions of dollars buying jewelry, gifts and trinkets in a bid to express our love. We spend countless paychecks, work second jobs and put untold amounts of strain on ourselves just to prove our feelings through material things.

The dirty secret of it all though is that love has no symbols. It is something that, by its very nature, defies all symbolism, especially with material possessions. The rich feel love no differently than the poor and the wealthy suffer no less from heartbreak than the destitute. Love does not discriminate on money and, in fact, tends to skip over those who rely on their finances to make their feelings known.

The only symbols of love are all elements of love, tiny glimpses into the emotion itself, mere glimmers of light reflected off of the sea of emotion. A tender kiss, a long goodbye, a heartfelt look, a content sigh and a soft touch are far more symbols of love than any diamond or flower ever could be.

For anyone with enough time or money can buy a rose or a diamond, only love can create those little moments that remind you how real it is. However, those who are living it often grow deaf to those special moments, especially as advertisers beat down their door with a more commercialized version of love.

Soon, love no longer feels like love and the quest for something timeless makes what’s had look worn and gray. Because we obsess so much about expressing our love and focus so little on living it and cultivating it, it withers and dies. It’s like talking to a flower while it’s rotting away in darkness, love doesn’t need to know how you feel, it just needs some light to let it grow.

So, if you have someone special, take some time tonight or soon, not to tell them how you feel, but to enjoy being in love, to be together, hold one another and just get caught up in the moment without a rose, a diamond or a word between you. Don’t worry about what will become of it, don’t even think about the future, the problems you two face or how you can express your feelings, enjoy the moment, enjoy that night.

Because, not only do we not know what tomorrow brings, but there are countless souls who can’t share a moment like that. They either haven’t found someone to love or are apart from them. No matter the reason though, it means you have to cherish your gift that much more and need to put that much more into it to make it grow.

Simply put, when you have a society so obsessed with money, the little things can easily be overlooked. We can not take them for granted and we must make them a priority. Because, no matter how quickly we look past them in our every day lives, the second they’re gone, they leave a hole that can never truly be filled. For what was once held and ripped away can never be fully reclaimed- no matter how many times we move on, no matter how many years go by and no matter how many millions make.

It’s a bitter fact of life, but one of the few that can easily be avoided if one is willing to work.