What is love?
“Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more…” — Haddaway
Nestor Alexander Haddaway (1965-) is a Trinidadian-born German vocalist and musician best known for his 1993 hit single “What is Love”. The song was released in May 1993 and was massively successful in Europe, becoming a number-one hit in at least 13 countries and reaching number two in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. A few years later it experienced a revival thanks to Saturday Night Live’s “Roxbury Guys” sketches and the 1998 feature film A Night at the Roxbury.
The reason I bring up this song? My whole life I have struggled to find a concise definition of love that fits my personal experience. Until recently, that is. My wife got angry because I argued with her about the shortest route to walk home after overshooting our subway stop. She went off in her own (wrong) direction, and I got home long before she did. Unfortunately, she had the keys to the apartment and I did not. So I got to sit outside my door and think about the ridiculousness of the situation. Also during that time I got some nasty text messages from her for good measure, because I had the audacity to point out that I was home and waiting.
