Listing to the ice cream truck go by isn't necessarily one of my favorite things. In fact, I hate it. It reminds me of being a kid begging your dad for money to buy overpriced ice cream that wasn't good anyway, just so that you could say you ate Dora the Explorer's eyes out. It reminds me of being a kid, where nothing seemed like it could hurt you. Then, suddenly I find myself thrown back into reality, where you find out that people are not invincible, where being famous and seeing how many people you know or how many people know your name is all that there is. It isn't true. It's just a lie. I mean, who is really going to remember your name after you die? Do you even know the names of your great great grandparents? I found out yesterday that a really good friend of mine when I was in middle school died about a month ago. He drowned. He was going to be a high-school senior this year. What hope does he have now? Those dreams and aspirations, are they even worth it? Staying on the computer 6 hours a day hoping that someone you know will want to talk to you suddenly doesn't seem so appealing. Suddenly, telling your friends "hold on I have to finish ___" doesn't seem so important. What is important in life? Love? It definitely isn't romance and all that stuff you see in chick flicks or on tv. Sure it would be nice, but at the same time, don't the feelings fade eventually? And then what? Do people just move on? Love for things, they can easily be burned in a fire. Love for people? What can you do to keep them here? What is love? protection? People are burned as easily as paper, so what can your "love" do for them? It isn't a feeling. Love is a sacrifice. If someone loves someone else they give up something for that person. You hear it all the time on TV. "you can't be with him b/c I love you." That isn't love, it's selfishness. Love can be letting go, if it is in the interest of another person. Think about it. The people who show love are the ones that put their life on the line for others. A mother running out in front of a bus, and getting hit so her kid won't. That is love. It may not always make sense. Love is discipline. A parent correcting the child so it won't get hurt. So many parents take it overboard, and scream at their id for almost touching a hot stove? How is that love? I'd take touching a hot stove any day over someone screaming at me. Love is patient. It waits on us to make decisions and honors our choices. The greatest example of love I can think of was my brother. His dad adopted me later. My brother didn't do anything wrong, he was THE PERFECT kid. However, I wasn't. I did a lot of stuff I shouldn't have. Everyday he tried to leach me different things so that I wouldn't get hurt, but I didn't listen. He had high standards for himself, and he took the blame for so many things that I did wrong. One day, however, we were in a different country, I did something that was punishable by whipping and death. However, he took the blame instead. I got to go free while he had the skin ripped off his back. I watched him look at me with pain in his eyes, as he told my Dad to forgive me, because I didn't know what i was doing. At the time I laughed at him, watching him die. I didn't realize that that could have been me. It was after that that I realized what I had done. I begged his dad to forgive me, and he did. His dad treated me like his daughter. Then I was able to see my brother again. "I told you I did nothing wrong, I didn't deserve to die, but you did. You deserved death but I payed for it, and now I am alive again. I didn't understand it. Now all I know is that the only things of meaning I have in my Life are Daddy, my brother Jesus, and Jesus with he in spirit (the Holy Spirit). That is what love is to me.