Everyone's Paris

"i'll look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye, than your consent to give strength to make it fly." -Juliet

The word "love" is advised to be used economically -only for times that it is genuinely meant. Most complain that its meaning has been belittled and taken lightly. Is it wrong to start thinking that the same has happened to "like?" To like someone is not nearly as strong as to love someone, however the essence of this "like" is the opened-mind to be led to love by this particular someone. A separation has been drawn between love and puppy love -"love" being the mature and romantic while puppy love being the young and innocent. Should a similar nuance be developed between a more serious like and lighter form of like? Or shall we call this lighter form of like a "crush?" Crush would entail physical attraction without any real idea of the individual's personality. To reach "like," one would know the person and the relationship about to be entered. With a crush, there is an incomplete picture of the person. Think about celebrity crushes. It is easy to say, "Wow. He is HOT and his character is so witty," after watching this actor in a movie, or even reading a short biography online. Hypothetical situation: you become friends with this actor you have a crush on, and you realize s/he is an alcoholic who tends to flake on his/her friends a lot. Crush is over. The potential of reaching Like is destroyed.

Juliet is constantly pushed by her parents to marry Paris. However, she knows that whatever attraction she develops for him can only go as far as what she sees on the surface: "i'll look to like, if looking like move" (a.k.a. even SHE won't go beyond the CRUSH stage).