Romantic Rose

With Mother's Day around the corner, we see many cards and roses being sold in retail stores. When did this idea of buying roses resemble love?

The red rose is a universal symbol of love. It appeared in many paintings and in poetry from modern day music to the media throughout history.

The red rose was introduced to Europe from China in the 1800's. The color red itself is a symbol for life and slowly became a metaphor for deep emotion. In many early cultures, red roses were used as decorations for marriage ceremonies and were a symbol of love and fidelity.

How many of us have heard of the expression, "hopeless romantic"? When we describe love, the word romantic inevitably plays a role. Whenever we describe someone as a hopeless romantic, someone who loves love, it is always something sweet. So, what is considered romantic?

Some people describe the word romantic as something fanciful, impractical, unrealistic, and some describe it as someone who is characterized by a preoccupation with love or by the idealizing of love or one's beloved.

When we express our love to someone, we tend to think of romantic things that make sparkles in the relationship. However, a study from Rutger's University said, "In a meta-analysis of 12 studies of infidelity among American married couples, it has reported that 31 percent of men and 16 percent of women had had a sexual affair that entailed no emotional involvement; 13 percent of men and 21 percent of women had been romantically but not sexually involved with someone other than their spouse; and 20 percent of men and women had engaged in an affair that included both a sexual and emotional connection."

Is this "love" that we speak of and is this "romantic" in any way? Many people buy roses but not everyone knows the whole meaning and story behind why they buy it during certain occasions. Exchanging roses or other flowers is supposed to express your affection sending the strongest message of love to someone. When we think of someone romantically, how do you think society plays a role on how we view love?

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Sources:
http://www.proflowers.com/flowerguide/rosemeanings/redrose-meanings.aspx

http://www.sfn.org/SiteObjects/published/0000BDF20016F63800FD712C30FA42DD/206A20541DE4EAD6895F6841A70AD45B/file/02._SEX%20&%20SMELL.pdf

Something Sweet

We tend to always hear stories about people who claim to have found love, but this story took us by a storm. Not too long ago, an American Idol contestant named Chris Medina shared a beautiful story of his love with his fiancé.

Chris Medina worked at a coffee shop in Chicago and was figuring out how he would care for his fiancé after she was in a near tragic car accident. She suffered major brain damage and woke up a month later and asked Medina to sing. He then received the opportunity to be in American Idol. Even though he's no longer competing, Medina was surprised with a $70,000 sponsor to help his situation with his fiancé, Juliana. Now, that's not something we see every day.

He sang a song, "What are Words" and is getting millions of views and has touched many hearts across America. He asks, "What kind of guy would I be if I was to walk out when she needed me the most?" This was one of the reasons why the song "What are Words," created such a huge impact in the media.

When we look at his situation and look at marriage, don't we all wish we have someone like that in our lives if we don't already? Could it be that not everyone is as faithful, as loving, and as courageous as Medina that his story becomes something we all idolize and take to the heart? Is society's view on love in any way similar to this?

If everyone's relationships were similar to Medina's, this probably wouldn't have as big of an impact but since this became viral, is this something we need to look for in love, in a relationship, or most importantly, in marriage?

Here is a video that gives us a little more insight on the love Medina and his fiancé share:

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Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQY4dIxY1H4

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/04/chris-medina-surprised-by_n_831294.html

What is Love?

When we talk about love, there isn't an exact definition that everyone can agree on. If we look up the word "love" in a dictionary, we will find: 1) a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. 2) a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend... and there are numerous definitions that describe love, but when we question whether or not we're in love, does this love we talk about last forever?

Helen Fisher, a PhD biological anthropologist, recently wrote in one of her studies, "Data from the Demographic Yearbooks of the United Nations on 97 societies canvassed in the 1990s indicate that approximately 93.1 percent of women and 91.8 percent of men married by age forty-nine," and "Studies of American couples indicate that 20-40 percent of straight married men and 20-25 percent of straight married women will have an extramarital affair during their lifetime.

A study from Rutgers University estimated that currently American couples dating report a 70 percent incidence of infidelity and in a recent survey of single American men and women, 60 percent of men and 53 percent of women admitted to “mate poaching,” trying to woo an individual away from a committed relationship to begin a relationship with them instead.

When we look at the percentages of marriage and the percentages of infidelity, we question if this has any effect on how society perceives the definition of love. Is love a temporary thing or is it something that lasts forever? Do these percentages of the population act upon the idea of love? These questions alone cannot be answered or defined with just words in a dictionary. We ask ourselves, does this have any affect on society if the percentages of infidelity continue to grow? And most importantly, why are the percentages increasing?

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Sources:

http://www.helenfisher.com/

http://www.helenfisher.com/downloads/articles/INFIDELITY.pdf