As I have gone about my business the past few days, and perhaps even longer, I’ve been pondering an idea: what does true love really look like?

One day I walked down the hallway behind our newspaper editor, Kiyah Moore (12) and her boyfriend, Tyler Hoover (12). He reached out to hold her hand, and as their fingers intertwined, I thought, “This is what real love is.”

At Lenoir City High School, I see so many horrible things happen to people in relationships. People have a twisted idea of what love is or what it’s supposed to be.

So many people have this notion that these horrific things are okay when in reality, they are absolutely not. Not many people seem to realize that love is not something that should hurt in any way. Love should do the opposite. It should heal.

Love is not getting mad at your significant other and shoving them or hitting them. Love is not violence. Love is not daily arguments over every small detail. Love is not taking the other’s phone to read their texts. Love is not a battlefield. Love is not hiding things from one another. Love is not making your ex jealous with your new man. Love is not cheating on someone.

Love is complete trust. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is holding your partner’s hand and not being afraid to show them off to your friends. Love is knowing there’s no one else in the world you’d rather be with. Love is daydreaming of a future with your special someone. Love is happiness. Love is caring and proving you do. Love is doing anything to see someone smile.

Love is a wonderful and beautiful thing, but it hardly ever seems to really happen that way around here.

Love with all the kindness in your heart, and love the way you would want to be loved. That’s really all it takes.