Question B

Emotional pain and suffering is and will always be a part of love. It truthfully makes no difference whether that love be a lifetime, head-over-heels commitment or a seventh grade crush; emotional pain will always be part of the package. The interesting part is that it makes perfect sense; when you care about someone and put forth energy and emotions into your love for them, pain is inevitable because so much risk is involved. There will always be the chance that your lover does not feel as strongly for you as you do for them. There will always be the chance that they will fall in love with another person instead. They might not be attracted to you or they might not share the same goals in terms of relationships as you. It is possible that they may have ulterior motives for the relationship or they may take advantage of you in some way. The risks involved are countless, however we all seem to take them when falling in love. This is a universal statement that most of us can agree on, what we can't seem to figure out is whether this pain exists due to the significance of love or if the love is significant because of this pain.

If love is significant because of the pain it induces, that means all events that are painful are significant. I can't seem to fully accept this theory. Being stung by a bee is hardly a significant event during the summer, however it can certainly induce pain. Failing a spanish quiz is painful, but not significant. This list could continue on for some time. These casual, small events that caused pain were not miraculously made significant because they happened to cause pain, so why should love work the same way? Love is painful and love is significant, but this significance is not caused by the pain, I feel quite the opposite actually.

I believe that the pain we feel exists because of the significance of love. When someone has found love, it is an incredible emotion for them that can hardly be expressed. These overwhelming feelings of affection and passion are very significant in a person's life. Their behavior changes as well as their attitude and general outlook on life. There is a lot that changes once love is found because it is such a significant emotion. This incredible emotion has such a large size and significance that pain is inevitable. As discussed, before this pain is caused by the risks one takes when loving. In The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus, it is suggested that pain often occurs because of the fear that those in love have that their love is not returned. This fear is painful and more so is the actual feeling of unrequited love. The pain resulted from these situations would not exist if these situations weren't of high significance.

Although the two sides to this question are separated by a very fine line, I am confident that the significance of love causes pain, not the other way around. If love was not significant, pain would not be an issue, however we all know that love is significant therefore pain is felt.