Junior Speaks: Falling in love with looks

You’re walking across campus to get some grub from Daly’s when someone you’ve never seen before strolls past you and into the dining hall. Who is that? Where did he or she come from? You get butterflies in your stomach. You stop dead in your tracks and notice your eyes following this mystery person.
Is it love at first sight? It more than likely isn’t.
I think it’s possible to be “in lust” at first sight, but love is certainly a powerful feeling that you can’t necessarily say you can feel when you see someone for the first time.
Don’t get me wrong — it’s possible to be physically attracted to someone you’ve never met before, but I don’t think you say that you’re “in love” with someone until you get to know him or her. What is more important than physical attraction is the emotional connection you share with someone that definitely cements that feeling and the definition of love.
For instance, you could go on a date with someone you find very attractive, but if you think this person has the personality of a wet paper towel, clearly your attraction to him or her was merely physical. Humans have a tendency to be very visual creatures, which is why we often confuse physical attraction with love.
This theory even goes with friendship. There could be someone you’d never thought you’d be friends with at first glance, but when you really get to know the person, you can discover that you wish you had been friends for a long time. It’s amazing what happens when you really get to know someone.
Another reason that I don’t think it’s possible to fall in love at first sight is my belief that the feeling of love progresses over time. You can start dating someone and he or she may have stronger feelings toward you than you do toward him or her, but over time, your feelings will eventually start to grow to be much stronger than you ever imagined. Sort of like a plant needs water, love needs a little time to blossom to reach its full potential. A strong relationship and real love takes some work. As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and falling in love doesn’t take a day either.
It is, however, possible for an exception to occur. Some people may find that they’ve fallen for both someone’s looks as well as his or her personality, which is great. I still believe that we love with our hearts and not with our eyes, but if you can find someone you can love at first sight and love even more after getting to know him or her, more power to you.
When you’re in love, you’ll know, because it will be unlike anything you’ve ever felt. Romantic love is definitely a connection that comes about when you both need each other the most, and you both would do absolutely anything to make each other happy. Love is sticking by the person’s side through thick and thin. It’s such a powerful emotion, that I don’t think it’s possible to feel it when you see someone at first glance.

-J’na Jefferson
Junior journalism major
Printed in the 2/12/14 edition