Love and like (comparison and contrast - Essay Example

Love and Like: Comparison and Contrast Many people cannot identify the thin line that divides the two words in terms of meaning and thus use them interchangeably. Although both feelings are so complicated to define, yet love can be understood as the next and more elevated stage of liking. In simple terms, the concept of “love” and “like” can be understood in terms of the difference between friendship and marriage. “Love” and “like” are the names of positive feelings with the former being more intense, powerful, and often without a reason than the latter.

Love is an intense feeling which is similar to passion. When someone loves someone, the former is overwhelmed with the thoughts of the latter. Love throws a curtain over the drawbacks of the beloved. The lover can only see the good qualities in the beloved. A mother loves her child. Even if the child is not very beautiful, he/she might be the most beautiful child to her mother among all the children in the world. A mother has so intense feelings for her children that she can even sacrifice her own life for her children.

Such power only reflects in a relationship which is grounded in love. An individual may not have a very rational reason to love someone. Love just happens even; sometimes, even without a reason. To like is to appreciate someone. People like others because they see some qualities in them that they appreciate. They can tell others why they like someone. An individual does not necessarily have to get anything in return for liking someone. While liking is sufficient to cultivate friendship, it does not suffice to cultivate a marital relationship.

On the other hand, love is too powerful a feeling to be between friends. While friendship is also a very important relationship and many people often use the word “love” to describe the feeling they have for their friends, yet it is often a misinterpretation and overstatement of the feeling. However, friends rarely have feelings of love for each other as well.Liking is a more suitable way of rationally judging an individual than love. Both words “love” and “like” are used in positive sense.

Both words are the names of feelings. However, the two terms differ in that love demands sacrifice whereas liking does not. It is for the very reason that while a marriage can sustain when there is love, there are good chances of its breakage when there is only liking between the marital partners. People generally have more rational reasons to like others than they have to love others. To conclude, “love” and “like” represent good feelings. While the two terms are both used and experienced in positive ways, love is more special than liking.

An individual may like many people, but there are very few people that he/she actually loves. Love demands love in return in order for the feeling to sustain whereas liking does not demand return. Where there is love, there are expectations whereas this is often not the case with liking.