Almost everyone on this blue plant falls in love at least once in life; being derived from animals as we are, the need for reproduction and propagation of the species is strong in us as well, much like the instinct to protect your offspring. Yet through our evolution we managed to bring something new to the equation, and reproduction is no longer the only thing in our minds. What we seek and need most is an emotional connection, and the feeling that we have found a partner for life. While mating for life is not unheard of in nature, it is simply an instinct for better chances of survival, nothing like our love relationships.
How humans connect is unique in the known world, and our developed brains and articulate language have aided in making this one of the most complex issues to exist. Those of you who might be tempted to say that love relationships are easy and the best thing to happen to us, should consider how people around the world view this subject. Love is still viewed differently in different parts of the world, and each specific culture has its own traditions and its own ways of reacting to love. Books have been written about it, countless movies made about it, musicians still sing about it and painters still express it in color.
Love relationships, whether they’re between parent and child or between man and woman, dictate how we live our lives. Although there is no law saying we need to find a partner, it is an unwritten rule we live by. We feel the instinctual need to find someone to share our lives with, and when we don’t manage to do that we become depressed. Loneliness is one of the greatest plagues of humanity, because even though most people don’t die from it, we’ve all suffered from it at one point in our lives. Studies have shown that lonely people are automatically exposed to more risks of depression, thoughts of suicide, and even more predisposed to get ill. Because love relationships influence us so much, not having them is more serious than we sometimes realize.
Perhaps that is why the concept of family was invented, so that one had love relationships even if they didn’t manage to find a mate and raise a family of their own. Human connection is ideal, but when we can’t find that we get attached to animals or birds as well; people make fun of those who raise ten cats or fifteen parrots, but loneliness is a heavy prison for certain people. So if a few simple animal lives can make things better and bring some joy, then everyone wins. Nevertheless, the conclusion we were aiming to reach is that nobody was made to live alone; although there are always exceptions, and certain people do prefer to be alone, most of us need those love relationships badly. They have nothing to do with social hierarchy, with making money or a career, with achieving certain things and so on; they are an expression our simple but profound need for love.
