Day 170 - I Need Love

I appreciate this song on a number of levels, partially because it speaks to where we all find ourselves at one time or another.  There is nothing that connects human beings universally like our need for love.  If nothing else is true about all humans, it can be said for everyone that we need love, period.
"Love, you said you'd never go away, but you're gone, and I'm right back where I used to be, wondering if you really were for me.  Love, why did you have to go away?  There was so much love that I gave to you.  Is there someone out there with a love that is true?"  I love "love" and feel that it is the single thing in the world that would change everyone's life for the better.  Unfortunately, most people see love as this first verse depicts it: unreliable, fleeting, painful.  Our songstress today asks love why it had to leave despite its promises to stay, feeling abandoned and depleted, having invested her own love into the situation.  And unfortunately, we're either taught or shown in our relationships that love will do exactly this, causing us to not trust love.
"I need love - somebody to touch me, somebody who wants to be with me only.  I need love - somebody to hold me, tell me that they love me, never gonna let me go."  Yet, the chorus shows the other side of the paradox - despite the fact that our "love" experiences tend to hurt us, we still long for it.  She recognizes her need for love and defines more specifically what she expects in that love situation - physical affection, fidelity, intimacy, verbal affirmation, and consistency/commitment.  These are specific and important desires for a good love relationship, and by making her requests known, she has laid the groundwork so that anyone who pursues her in love has an idea of what she will want/need in the relationship.
"Love, I don't think I have much more to give to no one else.  Maybe it's time for me to be by myself, because it hurts to much to put my love on the shelf.  Love, it's so hard to let it go, when you're longing for love.  I'll let go and I hope that it's true.  When it's real love, it will come back to you."  At this point, she may feel like giving up, because she's invested too much previously and not gotten a great return on said investment.  She feels that maybe being single would be a wise course of action, because it is hard to extend love with the uncertainty of being loved in return.  Now, I'm an advocate for being single, especially when you've recently come out of a relationship.  Proper introspection and healing are often necessary, especially depending on the level and length of relationship, but many people jump from one to another with little attention to their emotional/mental state.  However, this is no excuse to hide from love either, using a past hurt as a reason to close off your heart and ignore love all together.  Take time to heal, and then be open to what may come your way.  And as she said, sometimes you have to let go in order to receive.  You may receive from the same person you let go, or you may receive love in a different form from a different person, but I don't believe that Love would leave us lacking and depleted when we are truly in need.  We just have to have an eye and heart open for love however it comes to us.
"I need someone who's, someone who's there.  Somebody there.  Someone who cares for me.  I need love."  This bridge is fairly self-explanatory.  Even though the love lost in the beginning of the song seems to have been a romantic relationship, when it boils down to it, we really just need to know that someone cares for us as we are and will be there for us. 
So, let me be the first to acknowledge my need for love.  And let me also be the first to thank Love for the love that I have been afforded in my 26.5 years.  :)