Often mistaken for obsession or intrigue, really it is a force of nature.
Love is the single most powerful motivation, second only to fear.
A mother's love for her young will drive her to do anything to protect her child.
In times of need, it makes way for extraordinary feats:
a mother lifting a car to save her child,
or a father using only one hand to pull the weight of both his wife and child up to the safety of a ledge while hanging on by his other hand.
In times of loss, it will drive people to do the unthinkable:
* A father, struck with the sudden and near-inexplicable loss of his family, will chase the murderer to the ends of the earth for revenge.
* A woman would rather die than live in a world without her husband.
* A mother, after a miscarriage, gives way to an addiction to painkillers and narcotics to escape reality.
Love is a force that, when lost, often shifts into inescapable grief.
It is also only one side of a coin.
The other face is hate, and hate is just unrequited love without affection or tenderness.