What do you understand by love?

Love is an emotional feeling towards someone, characterized by a genuine action that shows that you care for them. This action can be expressed in a variety of ways, for example offering a gift, offering someone attention and holding their hand through the difficult time they are going through, among many other ways.

Who can show love and why?

Anyone can show love, regardless of gender, origin, age, sexuality or health status. A friend, child, parent, partner, relative or even a stranger can show you love and you can show it to them too. This is because love can be expressed in all kinds of ways. It does not have to be materialistic for example money. Being there for someone through a hard time and listening to their story can also be a good gesture to show support.

Have you shown someone love, how did you do that and how did the recipient feel?

Am always showing people around me love especially my friends. Recently a neighbour where I rent lost her mother. I was so touched immediately I had the news, it reminded me of my Dad who I lost 4 years back. It was a very sad experience for me, it took me more than a year to come to terms with his passing. So I knew first hand what my neighbour was going through. I paid her a visit after receiving the news of the passing of her mother and we talked a lot. She was in tears the entire time I spent with her. I shared the experience of losing my father and tried to calm her down. Am glad by the time I left, she had cooled. I also left her with 45,000Ugx which is about $12 as condolence.

Has anyone shown you love before and how did you feel when love was shown to you?

A number of people have shown me love. But there is this one person who gave me one of the most memorable experiences of my life. This is an uncle who started a business for me.

I had lost my job and was going through a very difficult time mentally and financially. I had debts to clear and a 2 month rent arrear and yet there was no way I could get money. I called my friends requesting for a loan but they all gave me the same story of being broke. I called my mum, who managed to raise me some money but still it was less than what I needed.

I got really depressed for more than 2 weeks. And then I received a phone call from my uncle who decided to clear all the rent arrears I had and also proposed to start a business of my choice for me. I got overwhelmed with excitement. I don't think I've felt more happy in my life before. I found out my mum had shared my story with him.

I had always admired business women who inspired me whenever I encountered one. I knew one time I would become one but after a very long time of accumulating some capital. Now here was the opportunity right before me. I decided to start a snacks business since I already had an idea about preparing snacks. The business is currently operating on a smallscale as I work hard to turn it into a big fast foods restaurant.

Express your love to someone in a practical way.

Here I paid a visit to my friend Ann Namyalo. We studied with her at high school but for some reason she didn't reach University. She got married and is currently having 3 children, Abby, Brendon and Chloe. Ann is not working, she is a house wife, the husband is the only source of income. And she narrates to me how some times life can get hard when the husband takes long to get salary. Because of this, I decided to express to her my love

I brought food stuffs for them, among them were biscuits which were for the 3 children.

The kids were really happy, it was so unexpected for them. Ann their mother, who was taking the pics called the day an early christmas for them.

I later shared with Ann about Steemit and how she can make the use of the time she is free at home to blog and earn something. I helped her open an account under the name @namyalo. She'll soon be joining us on Steemit.

Do you think love is a virtue that should be cultivated by all and be demonstrated in a practical way?

Yes, love should be cultivated by all of us. Everyone is where he/she is as a result of love.
Some people have lifted us to reach the achievements we've made in our lives; in our careers, businesses. And we should not forget our upbringing alone was as a result of the love from our parents or guardians who did everything in their power to bring us up, living healthy and possessing the skills and values to keep us going through life.

We should demonstrate this love in a practical way because there are many people around us that are going through all kinds of challenges and need to believe we can listen and support them the best way we can to encourage them to go forward with life. An act of showing we care can relieve off the pain they are going through.

How did you learn to show love and where?

I was brought up in a strong Christian home where love was highly upheld. My parents welcomed every person of whatever background. And they would treat them equally. I remember the times when we would be financially struggling at home but we would get shocked when our parents still couldn't hold back people from coming home and staying. We would share the little we had equally for example food. Everyone would be served the same amount of the food that was available.
Some of our relatives even reached a point of using our home as a centre of refuge whenever life had become difficult for them. They would stay as long as they wanted and we would share beds with them at night. None of them was forced to leave.

So I believe taking care of people subconsciously became part of me as I grew up with parents who expressed Love abundantly. That's how I learnt to show love and am forever grateful to my parents.

How will the world look like if everyone cultivates this quality?

The world will be much healthier if everyone cultivates this virtue of love. People have got so soaked up in life at work, at school, homes that they have forgotten how love feels like. Many are even taking it for granted only because they expect the people that are around them to always be there for them, sometimes they can't even realise it when it is expressed to them. And they have neglected expressing love to these people in their lives. Many end up suffering with various kinds of pain without the knowledge that sharing it is enough to let people in their lives and support them.

We need to be more aware when we are being shown love and appreciate the people showing it to us. And we should as well learn to express it without expecting something in return. As a result we shall bond more with others and share the pains we have with them. When someone shows you they care about you, it reduces the pain you might be going through.
This expression of love also helps with illnesses like high blood pressure.

Thanks for reading.

Thankyou @steemkidss for the contest. I can't wait to read people's posts about Love to get their view and learn something more about it.

I wish to invite;
@jemimahkamiti
@maryamanda
@kyara2
@quanbriel