[Serious] Reddit, what's the hardest truth you've ever had to accept?

I'm sorry, the substance of this post makes of course a valid point (relationships need work), but its form makes no sense to me.

Love isn't a feeling, but it is a choice ? Does that entail that when one says "I am in love", or "I feel love", they are actually expressing "I am making the choice to love someone" or "I feel like I am making a choice ?". Are we seriously denying that love is a feeling here ? Does that mean that all propositions such as "I love pop-corn", "I love this movie", "I love you" have actually vastly different meaning than how people constantly refer to the term ?

What even would motivate someone to make the "choice" we are talking about here ? Is it an arbitrary decision ? It can't be : since it is a choice, it must be informed by something. So why make this choice ? Why do we make the choice of love in some cases, and in others not ?

If teenagers are mislaid as to what "Love" actually is, what are they thinking of when they talk of the feeling "love" ? Is the teacher implying that what they think about isn't actually what they think of, that they are mislaid about such a feeling existing at all ?

Or is it simply figurative language by the teacher saying that "one must make the choice of love" which would mean that : when you "love" someone, you have to "work" in the relationship. That seems coherent, but then why say that "love" is a choice ? The term "love" in "love is a choice" seems to mean something like "having a successful relationship", and we would have "having a successful relationship is a choice", which seems coherent. Is that what the couples mean ?

Why make a commitment ? Most people would say they commit to a relationship precisely because they love someone, so we've seen here that "love" and the "choice" are two distinct things. And what about arranged marriages ? Is the OP implying that an arranged marriage works solely because people are locked into it ? Certainly not : there are a bunch of other factors, and what do they depend on ?

The final sentence is the most confusing to me : it says that someone can have feel weakness in love (no universe for a while), but come back to it again (universe is back). Why would one come back to it (love or the relationship) again, then ? I mean : what are their reasons to do so ? Is it arbitrary ? Then it is not a choice. Is it motivated by something other than love ? Then it is not the kind of relationship we are talking about. If you answer : "because their feeling of love comes back", then we have admitted to love being a feeling, not a choice, and the choice being solely what maintains the link when the love-feeling isn't there anymore.

I know this post is a bit cavalier and maybe somewhat rude, but I think we should be wary of the freedoms we take when discussing important existential topics with impressionable teenagers.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent