"Love" today

"Love" today
Ashley Frost

     The word "love" is tossed around like it's nothing these days, and I have been thinking a lot about this ever since we talked about the different kinds of love when discussing Babette's Feast.  For that film we talked about agape love, unconditional or charitable love, and eros love, or sensual love.
    Not only is the English word "love" totally ambiguous, it has the potential to mean something very great and meaningful, and also mean almost nothing at all.  When I say "I love my backpack and I love my mom" there are so many things that I could be portraying or attempting to portray by saying that, but our one word does not do well in explaining that.  This is probably not news to many people, but what can be done about it?  Do we as English speakers just accept the fact that I can say the above sentence in normal, everyday passing and not be questioned?  Or can we attempt to portray our love using different, or more words?  Is it worth it?  Is it even a problem that needs to be addressed or discussed?  I think it would be wonderful to incorporate the words agape and eros into more of our everyday speech; or to simply normalize it! We as English speakers can use a little more diversity when it comes to the word love.