There is no contestation that love specifically romantic love is one of the most controversial topics in our time. One may wonder why that is the case. The simple reason is that modern-day relationships have adulterated the pure and generic spirit that defines what love should be between partners. Modern-day relationships have become nothing short of what one will gain from his or her partner. To me, love should be something that is altruistic in nature. Love should be something that should embody all that is good and pure. It should epitomize the positive aspect of human nature. We are in an age where relationships face significant challenges as a result of the fact that people seek to benefit from their partners instead of loving them. Relationships have left many young people broken to the extent that they find it difficult to trust others and to love genuinely. However, that should not be the case. Love is something that is created to be enjoyed. Human love is supposed to epitomize the beauty of the infinite love of God. A religious figure in the Christian faith gives a very inclusive explanation of what love ought to be in our generation. Saint Paul posits in the holy book of the Christian faith that “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth”- 1 Corinthians 13: 4 to 8. The debate about whether one must love with his/her heart alone or love with his/her heart and mind boils that to one simple truth. And the truth is that human nature has corrupted the true core or essence of what love ought to be which is trust. Love cannot exist in a place where there is no trust. Unfortunately, our generation is a generation that is perverted by lack of trust. However, I believe that there is still hope for us if only we begin to reexamine ourselves and begin to appreciate what love ought to be. First of all, love is patient. In all relationships, partners must learn to be patient with each. Patience is a critical virtue that is necessary for the growth of every relationship. Secondly, love is kind. A heart can only be kind if it learns how to love. The world is rough. However, regardless of the challenges the world throws at us, partners in relationships should make effort to be kind to each other. Thirdly, love is not jealous. Once you truly love someone, then you must extend some appreciable level of trust to your partner. That means that you ought to try and minimize mistrust which is the source of jealousy. Fourthly, love is not pompous. One cannot love someone and at the same time be pompous towards the person. True love should imbibe in you the spirit of humility. Finally, love is not inflated, rude, selfish, quick-tempered, unforgiving and untruthful. True love should represent humility, kindness, selflessness and all the beautiful infinite virtues that exist. It is absolutely reprehensible that mankind has allowed its own flawed nature to reshape the true nature of what love ought to be. It is possible to love with the heart alone without the mind. Perfect love does cast out fear. This contemporary generation needs to do serious introspection and reexamine itself. The Story of Hosea and Gomer gives an apt reflection of what unconditional love represents. According to the holy book, Gomer was a prostitute while Hosea was a prophet. God instructed Hosea to marry Gomer. While married, Gomer still went about prostituting with other men. However, God instructed Hosea to still accept her back regardless of her sins. This story metaphorically shows the perfect love of God towards his children. In addition, it also shows that as human beings, we must love each other beyond our flaws and weakness. Love should not be conditional. We must love unconditionally. As religious couples, there's no crime in basking in romantic love with your partner. Once the relationship is acceptable before the sight of God, it is profitable to love your partner fiercely and unabashedly. The book Song of Songs and Proverbs in the holy bible teaches us the true fundamentals of what romantic love ought to be. It is instructive for our own growth to make extensive reference to those books. May this generation's love be unconditional, perfect and eternal.

Fallible Affection: Celebration of Val's Day By King David Dzirasah God created souls with the ambers of love. Imperfect souls haunted by love. Angels implant into the heart of mortals, Forbidden elixir of love. Love of imperfect souls, Flowing through the garden of mortals. Power of love destroys. The power of love heals. The heart wishes to hold in its grasp, Sceptre of the time traveller. Broken souls wish they had the power, To go back in time. Mending the shattered crystal. Restoring the heart shattered by the flames. A wish whispered into the wind. A soul touched by the fire of love, Sees the light beyond the heavenly curtain. Hordes of the five kingdoms, Wrench the light from the heavens. The stars vanish from the sky. Foreboding silence was all that was left. A dark wall erected, Protecting the heart from the flames of love. Time mends the shattered crystal. Heaven brings a new dawn. Angels work briskly for the sake of love, To create an impossible perfect soul. At midnight, Fairies sprinkled the dust of wish. Trees whispered into the wind. Turbulent streams murmured, The inevitability of a shattered crystal.

17th January 2020, a friend told me about a disease that had hit China. He mentioned the Spanish word ‘corona' as the name of the virus. I was quite curious about what this disease was. Immediately after my conversation with my friend over the phone regarding this new disease in china, I went online to research it. The information I got was quite scanty. Of course the program I did at the university which was Bachelor of Art Population and Health exposed me to a lot of issues regarding health. Some of the courses I did were Biostatistics, epidemiology, disease patterns in Ghana and Africa, health education, emerging diseases (with emphasis on HIV/AIDS) amongst other health-related courses. So I was very much aware of the history of china regarding the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and how it spread to other parts of the world through international travel. However, having this great in-depth knowledge, I did not allude my mind to the possibility that this new disease that has emerged in China could spread to other parts of the world. Quite frankly, I was living in a fool's haven thinking the disease would not spread to my small country Ghana which is thousands of miles away from China. As the disease continued to ravage China and some parts of Asia, I was still confident that this new disease that we did not have much information about at that time would not touch my country not to talk of affecting my way of life. However, one profound event changed my cosmovision relative to this disease that reared its head in China. Working as a teaching assistant at my former college, University of Cape Coast, I have to assist my supervisor who is a lecturer in any way he deems fit. So in February 2020, the first case of the coronavirus in West Africa sub-region was detected in Nigeria. On February 30th I accompanied my boss the lecturer to one of his lectures. During the lecture, a discussion regarding the coronavirus came up. We talked about how the coronavirus was detected in Nigeria but we did not allude our mind to the possibility of the virus spreading to our country Ghana. Life went on till two weeks later when the first case of the disease was detected in my country. I can still remember that day profoundly because of how dramatic the announcement was and the pandemonium it caused in the country. Public life practically came to an abrupt standstill. As a country, we were trying to get a hold of the situation that befell us. I stopped going to work because we had been instructed to stay home. Our social life was heavily affected. Life was no longer as it was. The country was placed on partial lockdown, especially the areas that were heavily affected by the spread of the disease. Every morning when I woke up, my first thought was how the day would be. I was trying to find means and ways to cope with the disruption in my social life. I couldn't go out as I normally did. I spent most of my time indoors unless I needed to go out to get essential things like food. As the disease spread rapidly throughout the country, so did our apprehension increased correspondingly. Having my social life restricted by COVID 19 was to a large extent being like how prison life is. Each day passes by without much expectation of change in the narrative or status quo. So I consciously decided to find innovative means to cope with the social restrictions imposed on me as a result of the virus taking over our way of life. I indulged myself in reading, writing as well as creating awareness on social media regarding safety protocols against the diseases. Each week I did take a book that I think would help me to cope with boredom. I mostly read non-fiction books which helped me to escape the new social life of restriction imposed on us as a result of the virus. The slogan our leaders used in creating awareness about the virus was ‘when you move, the virus moves', so I needed to stay home and work from home. But there was always the possibility of boredom creeping into one's faculty now and then. So reading was a very crucial coping strategy I used in coping with the new reality of the COVID world. Apart from reading, I also indulged extensively in writing. Writing helped me to cope with the stress associated with being restricted to staying at home. It allowed me to express my thoughts, feelings and opinion regarding my experience with how COVID has changed our way of life, especially mine. Now we have been told that life must go on. That we have to find ways to live with the disease. So I have resumed work, but I take all necessary precautions to make sure I protect myself. I know this coronavirus will be with us for some time, but I hope one-day things will go back to the way it was before the virus came.