Love can conquer all; it's a cliché for a reason. Yet these days, celebrities make marriage seem like play, divorce is more common than staying together, and yet still people ask “When will I find my true love? Is there really someone out there for me?”; still we search for that never-ending love. We put ourselves through heart break and tragedy just to continue on this quest. Finally, when we are browbeaten and tired, we give up, and take a step back. Something is obviously wrong. Some question, others point fingers.

I watched my parents' marriage of twenty years fall apart three years ago. I wasn't surprised- my father was never home, as a military man, and my mother did everything herself. My childhood consisted entirely of my mother. To this day- I still only have her, and that's fine; what she did as a single parent I've seen two parents be unable to accomplish. And since her divorce, I've watched her grow as a person. She's no longer timid or shy, or afraid to go out. We do things now, we have fun, and our relationship is a lot stronger. When she was married, she was the living embodiment of the oppressed housewife. Their story was not one of true love, but at one point they did love each other.

After these events, meeting my mother as herself for the first time in my life and getting to know the person she had become, I naturally began to contemplate things. Was love really important? Was love good for you? Did it exist? Were soul mates real, was true love itself even possible? But my mother, wise woman that she is, passed another jewel of knowledge on to me. Only when you love yourself, can anyone else love you.

So I believe in this. I believe in true love. I believe that it can conquer all. I also believe that in order to find true love, you must start with yourself, and once you can love inwardly, you can love outwardly. If you do not recognize your own personal beauty and flaws, why should anyone else? You do not need anyone to accept you, and once you have believed that you can do triumph over anything on your own, you have found the greatest love of all. Love for yourself.