Back in the days of old, it was conventional for parents to chose spouses for their children; absent their consent.

And yet such marriages forged without pre-dates, courtship and even a slightest clue of what the other person is like fared very well; they grew up to love and respect each other, observe all conjugal injunctions/ordinances and lived happily together.

Yet in our generation; the excuse of ''love'' have thwarted efforts to enact such unions as of old.
Such excuse as 'i cant marrry someone i dont love' saturates the air should any attempt be made to match-mate children of nowadays.
And we end up dating and marrying the people we claim to 'love' yet our relationships marriages tend to suffocate at the passage of time.

Where then is the love? What then is love?
Is there such a thing as love?
Is love the immense emotional attachment/feeling to a person? Is it that excitement we feel when we see a particular person?? Or is it what makes our heart beat faster when we talk to a particular special someone? Is love different from a crush and infatuation?? (..tbdl)

All that is needed for a relationship or marriage to thrive is respect for each other, care, concern, communication, compromise and mutual understanding, what we refer to as love seeps in at the combination of the above.

Love is a choice, not the mere feeling.
Its a decision you make to care, trust, respect and adore a particular person. Absent these gestures love is lost!!
Yet if love is not reciprocated its lost as well..."for the lover deserves to be loved in return in such a way that he/she also becomes the loved"

This way our relationships will be healed. Our society will overcome this nightmare of incessant divorce and broken homes.

OPINION POOL:
Peter Paul Oko_
What most people seek in the name of love  these days are ludicrous. Most ladies look out for the guy with a 6 digits monthly salary while some men look out for a groupie for a wife. When their various expectations are no longer met, they begin to crumble in their emptiness called love. In that case...#where_is_the_love#

Gabriel Umoh_
Some people over fantasize thier ideal lover and end up flummoxed when their expectations goes south!! I mean love is always ready to compromise and forgive and endure. When people look for an already made mr Right and miss Ideal, without being ready to endure mr right's shortcomings, they already ruin their homes before its built.
We should be to awaken us to the fact that love is a choice, its the act of caring, of understanding, of trusting.....
Its not the feeling alone!! For a girl in Nigeria can have a crush for ....lets say Van Diesel now of what use is it? #where is the love#

Irene Atieta_
Love is a choice! It is a decision. Feelings will fade, the fever will subside...but the decision to be there for the other person stays with you.

Gloria Sampson_
Decision is the most important element in relationships. It is the decision that sustains the union in trying times. Because when you realise that no matter what you are not gonna leave him/her, it becomes easier to deal with their bullshit.