“What is love?”
“What?”
“What is love?”
“That’s a pretty broad question. Why do you ask?”
“Everything is about love or hate on your planet.”
“I’ve never given it much thought, but you could be right.”
“I think I understand what hate is from studying your conflicts, but what is love?”
“Well, that’s not a simple question. Love takes many forms. People love their possessions, their pets, music, art, and that's only a partial list. On occasion, they’ve even been known to love each other."
“What do you love?”
“Well, I love that big, black furball over there.”
“But why do you love your cat animal? All he does is eat and sleep.”
“I suppose because he needs me and that brings a certain degree of comfort into my life.”
“Is being needed why people love?”
“That's part of it, but it gets a little more complicated with people.”
“Do you love anyone?”
“I love my friends. I don't have any family.”
“Your video records show people loving one person. Have you ever loved one person?”
“Video records? Oh, you mean movies.”
“Movies, yes. I watched one that was made during one of your wars. It was called The Americanization of Emily.”
“You mean have I ever loved someone like James Garner loves Julie Andrews in the movie? Maybe not as dramatically as that but, yes, I have. It was a long time ago. I was very young.”
"But you are not with her now. Why are you not?"
"Because life isn't black and white. Sometimes, people have a hard time getting past the shades of gray."
"I do not understand."
“She was driving down the California coast from her family home in Walnut Creek, California. Everyone thought she was on her way to see me, but she never made it to Los Angeles.”
“Did she become lost along the way?”
“You could say that. She checked into a motel a few hundred miles south of San Francisco. A few days later, she committed suicide.”
“She ceased to exist?”
“Yes.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Humans suffer from two categories of illnesses, physical and mental. Medical science has come a long way in understanding a variety physical illnesses but, I'm afraid mental illness remains somewhat of a mystery."
