What has become of love?  This isn't anything new I'm talking about, sadly.  "Love" has long since become a bastardized version of its former glory.

  What was once a word representative of a beautiful purity was gradually and increasingly turned into a word representative of not only different things but also conglomerations of other things.

  It may not be easy to concisly pin down definition for it, but it is easy to see what it is not.  Simply put, it is not anything other than love.

  Respect is its own thing.  Sexual attraction is its own thing.  Appreciation is its own thing.  Joy is its own thing.  Pain is its own thing.  The list is as long as however many different things have been referred to as love.

  Love is something that can be felt for all people and things simultaniously by one person.  It is like wanting only good things for someone or something.  It is like a harmony and unity with all things.  If there is a particular person that you hold above all others in some way, then it is because you feel other things for them, or more specifically, other things about aspects of that person.

  To say "I love you" as some meaning other than its true one is to be very vague.  The other person has only their own probably incorrect definition to go by.

  You say you love me; I say okay, as I hope you love all people.  If really want to single me out, then you need to be more specific.  "I love you" means nothing to me, in this respect.  You might as well say, "I'm breathing in and out".  Well, good for you.  Keep up the good work.

  But then why would you need to hear or say much of anything.  If you are truly paying attention, then you will know all you need to know by how the person treats you.  As for saying it....

  There's only two reasons to tell someone something: to inform and to remind.  In other words, they don't know or they forgot.  If you're actually right for each other, it won't be a problem.  They'll know it without having to be told.