Some Say Love...

Love is present in every aspect of life. Therefore, love can have many different meanings, such as happiness or commitment. When I eventually enter a committed relationship, I hope to find these meanings, but I also know that love requires sacrifice in order to make the other person in the relationship happy. Additionally, love is not something that can be rushed because, as the article states, love is not demanding. Instead, love is patient and kind, and true love endures all things, good or bad. In my opinion, these characteristics of love are nice to think about, but I do not believe all of these characteristics can be found in one person to make them my soul mate. Actually, I do not believe in soul mates because I do not think you can search for a soul mate if you do not know what to look for as the article states. If I do not know what to look for, how can I be sure that I have found my soul mate? On the other hand, I think everyone has more than one person that they are automatically drawn to, and they just have to pick the one they want to spend the rest of their life with. In the songs listed below the characteristics of love can be found, and they show love in its versatile forms.

"We Found Love" by Rihanna

In this song, Rihanna describes her relationship with another person she met in which she realizes how much she likes him. She is surprised to have met this person that seems right for her because she has already accepted that this kind of love would never occur. This is a great message about love because the lyrics show that love is patient and that it may not occur when we look for it. Sometimes, love just happens.

Shine a light through an open door
Love and life I will divide
Turn away cause I need you more
Feel the heartbeat in my mind

"How to Love" by Lil Wayne

In this song, Wayne describes a woman who tries to find love, but she can't because she does not know how to even love herself. Once again, love is described as something that cannot be searched for. Instead, love must come to the person since love is always patient. Additionally, we cannot look for love if we do not have respect and care about ourselves because we cannot give love until we understand it ourselves.

You had a lot of crooks tryna steal your heart

Never really had luck, couldn't never figure out

How to love

"My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder

This is one of my favorite songs because Stevie Wonder wrote it about his daughter, but he also intended the song to be for his significant other. This song shows how love is also about a desire to be with someone all the time. Also, this song shows that love requires dedication and time to someone in order to truly show him or her how much they mean to you.

My cherie amour

Pretty little one that I adore

You're the only girl my heart beats for

How I wish that you were mine

"Complicated" by Rihanna

This song describes an extremely difficult relationship between two people who deeply love each other. The lyrics of this song convey a strong message that love is not always happy. People have a view that love enables people to never be angry with each other, but that is a distorted belief. Actually, troubles are supposed to occur in a relationship because if two people love each other, they will figure a way to solve their problems.

Sometimes I get you

Sometimes I don't understand

Sometimes I love you

Sometimes it's you I can't stand

"I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston

This is one of my favorite songs because it exemplifies that love lasts for eternity. In my opinion, this is the most important meaning of love because an eternity is a long time to be emotionally and physically attached to someone. Although they may not be your soulmate, this person plays a key role in your life, and it is almost impossible to stop loving them, even during rough patches of a relationship.

If I should stay

I would only be in your way.

So I'll go, but I know

I'll think of you every step of the way.

And I

Will always love you

I will always love you.

As we go throughout our day, we are bombarded with various advertisements that tend to have sexual undertones that we may not even notice.

In the picture on the left, American Apparel is marketing its "Classic Girl" line. Personally, I do not think there is a connection between the product and the advertisement because the model is standing in her panties. Actually, this picture is ironic because American Apparel wants to bring attention to clothes yet the woman portrayed does not have any clothes on. No, I do not think this advertisement is appropriate because the viewer of this image is not receiving any information on clothes or American Apparel. Instead, people are just seeing a pretty woman dressed scantily. Additionally, the stereotypes that woman must be wearing the least amount of clothes and be extremely skinny are also shown through this picture. Furthermore, there are other ways to market clothes besides this, such as actually showing the clothes in the "Classic Girl" line or showing the American Apparel store. In regards to the consumer, I think the consumer perceives the advertisement to be trashy, and I doubt the image has an impact on the consumer because there is basically nothing for anyone to gain from looking at this advertisement.

Additionally, our perception of sexuality is distorted in the picture on the right as Dakota Fanning is shown displaying Marc Jacobs' perfume. Furthermore, this is a provocative advertisement because the perfume is cleverly placed in Fanning's crotch, simulating that she has male genitals. Once again, no connection can be made between the product and the image in the advertisement because perfume is never sprayed near a person's private areas. In my opinion, this image is not appropriate because, although subtle, there is a strong sexual tone to this picture. Yes, stereotyping is evident because the image portrays a need for a woman to be sexually depicted in order to attract attention. Moreover, there are various methods to advertise perfume, such as showing a model spraying it on herself or attaching a free sample to the advertisement. Finally, this image has a strong impact on the consumer because it can severely offend some women since it is incredibly inappropriate. In addition, this consumer has the idea that the perfume should be used for sexual purposes, which many people may not desire for themselves.

Identifying My Identity

As I reflect on my life so far, I realize that numerous factors have affected my identity today, but only a few stand out as being memorable.

1. One of these factors was getting accepted into the University of Pennsylvania in early December. Honestly, that day was the best day of my life because Penn was, and obviously still is, my first-choice college, and I could not see myself at any other college for the next four years. Because of this, I was elated when I logged onto the website and discovered that I had been accepted. This experience affected my identity today because I realized that I could finally calm down. For the past four years, I have been stressing about having good grades, a high gpa, and numerous extracurriculars to ensure my college resumé was appealing while still managing to have a social life and time for my family. Additionally, my acceptance made me realize how much I stress about things that do not actually matter. Obviously, school is important, but I realized that I also need to enjoy my time in high school because I only go through this experience once. Overall, my acceptance into Penn has made me more aware of the precious time I have now and how much I need to cherish it.

2. Another factor that affects my identity is the Mount. Over the past four years, I can happily say I've enjoyed high school. From dances to yearbook to student government, I have met an incredible amount of people that have shaped me into the person I am today. Since I'm here for the bulk of my time, I've realized that the people I'm surrounded by are amazing. The teachers are willing to work with me and help me on something I do not fully understand. Also, the seniors are friendly to each other, which I love because a school with all girls could be catty but that is not the case at all. Ever since the eighth grade, I knew I wanted to come to Mount because I sensed the openness and sense of community when I visited. Now that I'm about to graduate, I can reflect on the time I've had here, and I realized how much I'm going to miss it. The Mount is like my second home because I'm comfortable with everyone here. While I'm happy to graduate and move on to college, I think graduation will be a bittersweet moment because I'm leaving my second home.

3. The most important factor that has shaped my identity is my mother. As cheesy as it sounds, my mother and I are very good friends. Even though we have fights at least once a week, I love her more than anything in the world. I think she has shaped my identity because she guided me to be the person that I am today. I know I can come to her with any problem or for advice or just to talk, and I know she'll always be up to listen to me. Also, I think she helped in my identity because she was a parent but also let me be independent. She let me make mistakes but then she also helped me correct them at the same time. I think that's the biggest way in which she shaped my identity because I am a very stubborn and independent person, and it's remarkable that she put up with my personality for all these years and still showed me how to learn from my mistakes.