Good… What does it mean?

What makes a college good? This question, posed to me in class last night, has been consuming my thoughts today as I’ve gone about my work. These thoughts remind me of a time when I was challenged to dwell on the word: love. During a conversation with a friend of mine in college, she asked me why I told so many people that I loved them. Initially, I was offended, how dare she ask me if I really loved the people I said this to, was she questioning my heart? After several weeks of processing and acknowledging that I did frequently used the term love to describe my feelings for someone or something, I came to the conclusion that I really did mean it when I told others that I loved them, but I understood her questioning my ability to love so many individuals at once. During my follow up conversation with my friend, we discussed the subjective nature of the word love. We realized that the meaning of the word love is very much dependent on the situation and the person who is using it.

I am convinced that the term love is similar to the word good in that they are both very subjective. Someone may use the term good to describe one of the best experiences he or she has ever had, and another may use the term to explain a mediocre event. The meaning is not only found in the sender (or the person who uses the word), but is also found in the receiver (or hearer of the word). Therefore, when asked if my college experience was good, in order to best answer the question, I should have asked for clarification from the person asking the question, as to his or her definition of good. With the meanings of these terms being so relative, it begs the questions: How do I interpret something as being good? Do I use the word good to describe everything or do I use the word to describe something that is special and uniquely good?

Several years have passed since my college conversation over the word love, yet I find myself contemplating the frequency with which I use the word on a regular basis. I can honestly say that I have found a greater disparity between the words love and like, and have found myself using the term love with less frequency, saving it for something that I genuinely love and appreciate. I believe it is really important that we begin processing the most common words used to describe something, and ponder the deeper meaning of these words. My hope is that through this processing, we begin discovering our own opinions and truly own the things we are most passionate about.