The question of love vs. lust is important to some people because couples want to be sure that their relationship is built on a good foundation.
Junior Richard Hines believes that lust and love are two separate things. He believes that love is on a continuity that does not include lust. While lust may exist in loving relationships, it’s a separate entity.
Junior Charlie McMichael has a different view.
“Love is nothing more than people wanting to be with one another,” he said. “It’s more of a mixture of emotions, lust and desire.”
McMichael said lust is part of what people call love.
“Lust is a form of desire and when people see something they desire they go after it,” he said. “Therefore, people are in pursuit of a relationship.”
Senior Kurt Jennings, who recently married fellow student and senior Sandra Jennings sees lust as something selfish that is completely separate from love
“Lust is about what I want all the time,” he said. “Love is sacrificing and wanting what’s best for the other person.”
Hines’ continuity starts with liking and moves into deeper stages of love.
“Like is, you want to get to know them better,” he said. “Love is [usually] when you’ve known them for about a year and a half.”
Hines said just knowing another person for a certain amount of time is not enough.
“I believe you can get to the stage of like in college,” he said “With so much other stuff going on in college you don’t have time to focus on that relationship.”
Senior Sandra Jennings agrees that love takes a lot of time and focus.
“In college, can love happen? Yes,” she said. “But, people expect it to happen a lot faster than it does.”
Sandra Jennings said she met Kurt in grade school and they started dating their senior year in high school. They spent a semester apart between the time that she started attending OU and the time that he started.
“In my friends’ experiences it’s very hard to connect on the level that Kurt and I did,” she said.
McMichael said finding love is just finding someone who is compatible.
“And in the case you do find someone you’re compatible with, you have similar interests with, then you can start a relationship. One of the great truths in this world is that nothing lasts forever.”