Introduction

• “The search for love continues even in the face of great odds”
• “Youth culture today is cyclical about love. And that cynicism has come from their pervasive feeling that love cannot bet found. Expressing this concern in When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough, Harold Kushner writes: “I am afraid that we may be raising a generation fo youngg people who will now up afraid to love […] because they will have seen how much it hurts to take the risk of loving and have it not work out […] that they will grow up looking for intimacy without risk, for pleasure, without significant emotional investment. They will be so fearful of the pain of disappointment that they will forgo the possibilities of love and joy.” […] Ultimately, cynicism is the great mask of the the disappointed and betrayed heart”.
• “A woman who talks about love is still suspect. Perhaps this is because all that enlightened woman may have to say about love will stand as a direct threat and challenge to the visions men have offered us.”
• “How-to classes exist for every dimension of sexuality, even masturbation. Yet schools for love do not exist. Everyone assumes that we will know how to love instinctively. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we still accept family as the primary school for love. Those of us who do not learn how to love among family are expected to experience love in romantic relationships. However, this love often eludes us. And we spend a lifetime undoing the damage caused by cruelty, neglect, and all manner of lovelessness experienced in our families of origin and in relationships where we simply did not know what to do.”