Are two REALLY better than one?

A friend of mine recently tweeted the question "Is it possible to love two separate people equally?" Although I will delve more deeply into this question, my simple answer is not; it is not possible to love two separate people equally. Whichever answer a person chooses for this question, the most important aspect that needs to be established is how he/she define the word love. If we define it as liking particular features of an individual and thus being attracted to them on some level, then of course you can love two people equally. However, what was just defined was not love but rather liking or infatuation. These emotions are not eternal but rather quite fleeting. A bubbling personality, the most exquisite physique; all of these things are susceptible to change. Not only can the other person change but a person's preferences or proclivities can also change over time. So love is not infatuation, although that is a necessary component. Love without an initial infatuation is arranged marriage; which has its benefits too but I will save that for another post. Love is putting another person's needs, wants, and desires over your own regardless of emotion. Some might say "that isn't glamorous Michael" or "that sounds so boring." I would respond with "You are correct, to a certain extent." Real love is found in every relationship we have. When you first meet anyone you see if you like their personality or if they are cool to hang out with and you may see them more frequently. As time goes on you learn more about them and vice versa and you decide each time you hang out or talk if this person is someone you want to be in a relationship with (any kind of relationship by the way). Then comes the challenging part; when they forget your birthday or tell the world a secret they swore not to tell. You can decide to remove them from your life or to forgive them knowing full well that you don't even remotely like them at the moment but they mean enough in your life that you will keep them around. The same is true and even more so when it comes to romance. Many people who don't see or believe that how I defined love is correct, I would say, with no intention of disrespect, that you are immature and do not fully grasp concepts of commitment and devotion. A lot of my friends have been married recently and while it may seem shocking to myself and the general public they all have seemed to grasp the concept of real love. I am not a proponent and NEVER will be of the idea that love conquers all and as long as we have each other mentality. NO! Get a job, have at least some semblance of a plan before you put a ring on it and start making sweet love. However, I truly believe that all of my friends who have gotten married regardless of their age have understood the deep commitment they are agreeing to in marriage. Everyone complains that divorce rates are sky rocketing and the reason for this increase is because many people enter marriage with an incorrect definition of love. So when the first difficulty arises, the path of least resistance and honestly least reward is to separate. I am sure that many people have said this before him but allegedly Theodore Roosevelt said "nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, and difficulty." We say this about health, about school and about our careers; why should it be any different in our relationships? Some people try to argue that it is in our nature as members of the animal kingdom to have multiple mates and this monogamy business is stupid. Although I feel like people who make these arguments just want to have sex with as many people as they can it also isnt very strong. There are many animals that don't have monogamous relationships BUT there are a handful that do. For example, swans, wolves, turtle doves, and bald eagles. Love is difficult, painful, joyous, fantastic, miserable and everything in between. Kanye believes "love is cursed by monogamy" but I would say his definition of love is incorrect and perhaps monogamy is cursed by this so called "love." To see more closely all that love entails I implore you to read 1 Corinthians 13 very closely and see if it matches up with how you define love.