@SogieSnuggle now I must say there's no universal definition of love but I think there are some things that should be common to everyone when it comes to this Love thing.

Love is broad and multidimensional. But I think it can be narrowed down to these few..
- Passion/pursuit
- committment (willingness to give your all to someone)
- Pleasure (the joy you derive from doing things you do for someone)
- Sacrifice

Sacrifice (giving up some things/habits you consider valuable for someone)

Now when you put this together, you see love is a very big CHOICE. you choose to do these things for someone who you know deserves it irrespective of what the person feels.

And if you look closely, this love will still work for proper friendships so when making this choice, it's not automatic that the person you love will be ready or capable of showing all 4 attributes. It'll be selfish to actually expect someone to do all these because you did.

Think of God sending his son to die for us.. True love. Imagine if we all had to sacrifice our first born sons in return for it to be live. It won't make sense.

So I think when you make an decision to love someone, it comes with the possibility that it won't be returned. Ideally it shouldn't change what you feel and if it does maybe it was theatrical love.

So like I said, passion, committment, pleasure,sacrifice can work for friendships too in their right doses.

I feel I've said gibberish in this thread but this is how I understand love. The selfish part of me is the one crying to feel a bit of what I dish out. It's a little bit like giving. The proper way to give is because you want to, not because you want something in return.

But the human and flawed part just wants a little bit of reciprocation.