The world loves young love. Yes? The paparazzi pursue celebrity couples in search of that glimpse of perfect, young, beautiful love; a snapshot that embodies what we all long for in a romantic relationship. The perfect kiss. The long embrace. The hands clasped in friendship and amour, locked together in love. These images are idols to all who search for beauty and truth.

I believe the purpose of this pursuit is to encapsulate youth, or to eternalize young love that seems so fleeting, like a vapor in the wind. We want to hold the proof in our picture albums, on our phones, to remind us that the ephemeral romance is real, albeit short-lived.

My argument starts with scrutinizing that tendency to put young, romantic love on a pedestal, and it ends with informing the media that the truest love is not young. It’s ancient. Why is old love left unpursued? Are we not interested in the outcome of those youthful relationships? Shouldn’t we take pictures of two wizened, wrinkled faces who have been enamored with one another for fifty years? I think that is beautiful, amazing, and pictorially worthwhile. I know. Some of those youthful loves don’t last.

But some do, for decades. We must not ignore the amazing results of lasting young love. Those persevering couples metamorphose into a oneness, a synthesis of agape, philia, and eros, a true phenomenon. This abiding, unstoppable love, no matter how ancient or saggy the vessel, should be put upon that human pedestal. And reverenced.