According to the Oxford English Dictionary, passion means “senses relating to physical suffering and pain.” Passion’s Latin root is also attributed to what we refer to as the Passion of the Christ, or the suffering of Christ. Colloquially speaking, we use the word passion to describe an intense relationship or feeling. Passion is alternatively used to describe our enthusiasm for an activity or cause. She’s quite passionate about preserving Arctic wildlife. But, let’s go back to using passion to describe our relationships, particularly our romantic relationships. Most people look for that passionate or passion-filled love. Are we then simultaneously looking for love that is also painful? When looking for a relationship, are we setting ourselves up for suffering? Are we all masochists?

I can only speak for myself when I say that most, if not all of my significant relationships with people involved some sort of emotional strangulation. Maybe it’s because I have not found the right person, but I am going to bold enough to say that no relationship is smooth sailing. If you care about someone, things will get painful at some point. If there is a strain in the relationship, challenge to overcome, or a hard decision to make, it can often hurt very much to care about someone. And yet, even though we all know that our relationships with people may very well end in heartache we are still all willing enter these engagements with out significant other. It could be that the pain of it all is cancelled out by the pleasure. Or that the suffering is somehow worth it all in the end, but either way, we tend to go through hell in order to connect with someone so intimately.

In all honesty, the pain and drama are a small part, but a part nonetheless, of the reason I choose to enter a relationship. I want to care about someone so much that it hurts. I want to feel that much feeling about a person. If I don’t, I don’t see the worth in entering the relationship. The passion or suffering we tend to feel being with a significant other tends to be somewhat of the appeal because the suffering is involved with the mystery, the drama, the distance, and the intrigue. Have you ever liked someone so much that when you were not with them, it kind of hurt inside? Have you ever ached to be near someone? Have you ever ended that relationship because you didn’t like that feeling? Maybe you did, and in that case I salute you for being a practical champ. The rest of us slums, tend to be a slave to love. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Is love unhealthy? At times. Is it intoxicating? Absolutely. Is it painful? Usually. Yet, we still choose to look for it and that’s saying something. Okay, so we not all be masochists in the bedroom, but maybe we are in life. Maybe the suffering or pain we endure through everything is worth it and feels great because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. College and college classes can be suffering and yet we will take pleasure in our suffering because of the degree we will receive at the end of our four years. In love, we suffer because we see that we can have something that might make us more complete.