Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (1:20 p.m.) Love Journal

throw extremely elaborate parties to celebrate the love two people have for one another, and many people think it would be the worst thing ever if someone else had a better, more elaborate wedding. Sometimes there’s even silent competitions between siblings about who is going to fall in love first and seal the deal by getting married. No one wants to fall in love last. At weddings, when pictures are being taken, we only want the ones that represent us being happily in love. We want to have these images as reminders of how happy we were and how much love we felt. We also want everyone else to know that we have the greatest love and we want to show that off through our wedding photos. Maybe the reason we want these pictures is because a small part of us knows that the feeling of love we had in that moment is unattainable over the course of a lifetime. Kristina Wasa’s opinion on love is one that society expects of every person: it lasts a lifetime. She says “Whether love is happy or unhappy, it always endures” (‘Kristina Wasa’, P.9). The expectation that genuine love must last the course of a life is one that is preva- lent in today’s society. Whether i t’s Celine Dion singing “Love can touch us one time, and last for a lifetime, and never let go til we’re gone” or even in the vows we take during our marriages “until death do we part”, there is an expectation that love must last forever. But does love actually last forever? The divorce rate in America is hovering around 50%, which means half of the people in our country confirm that love doesn’t last a lifetime (American Psychological Association). There’s been 21 seasons of ‘The Bachelor’ and out of those 21 couples, 2 relationships have lasted to this point (Majeski). These couples also reinforce the statement that love doesn’t last forever. It’s shocking how the success of ‘The Bachelor’ compares to success of arranged marriages, and it’s even more interesting when examining eros and philia with respect to each situation. One study listed the divorce rate for arranged marriages, which are not forced marriages, to be 6% (Statistic Brain). The divorce rate for marriages based on love is around 55% and the failure rate for relationships started on ‘The Bachelor’ is 90%. Do these numbers prove that we are doing love wrong? When examining an arranged marriage, it can be argued that the initial type of love these two people are feeling is philia. It is a reciprocal love that is based on satisfying the needs of each other and not necessarily based on sexual desire. This type of love only exists when both individuals reciprocate philia and it will fall apart once the need for each other ceases to exist. It is an economical relationship based on necessity and utility, and they’re far more successful. The hope with these relationships is 5

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