On this annual celebration of love, one must admit that the word is overused. Many popular songs and religious teachings encourage us to love one another; but is this emotionally possible? Perhaps the message should focus on kindness, empathy and generosity.
We may surely love family members and close friends. We may even love our pets. Romantic love is generally limited to a few persons in our life (at most) though some men claim to have "loved" dozens, if not hundreds, of women.
Finally, we all tend to overuse the word in more benign ways; we love pizza, horses, sunsets etc. But the overall effect is to diminish the importance of true love in our life and in society as a whole.
