By Angelica Martinez

This I believe: that love does not conquer all. Many of us at one point in our life wish to fall in love, get married, and start a family of our own. But life is harder than we want to believe, and when we are actually faced with difficulties, love isn’t always enough to pull us out of our slump.

I have seen love fail in the relationship between my parents. They have taught me that we as humans are self-centered, and that’s something that we can’t always help; it’s just in our nature. Not just in their case, but in many couples, money problems are enough to break off marriages and cause conflict. I’ve seen money tear love apart. I’m sure there were other factors in it, but primarily stress put on from extended periods of credit card debt caused animosity in my household. It went from an occasional argument from stress, to daily verbal altercations, and even escalated to physical violence. For as long as I can remember, the stresses of life have slowly torn away the love between them, and I have not seen nor do I foresee any love sprouting or conquering anything.

I know that relationships come and go, but nothing is supposed to be stronger than a mother’s love. I’ve seen that crumble too between my sister and her two sons. When I was about 11, she left them and went south, and hasn’t spoken to them or us since.

Since then, we have adopted them and they are raised as my brothers. Although we shower them in love, and my mom treats and loves them as if they are her own kids, they still haven’t come to grips with why they were abandoned. They can’t grasp why a mother would leave her child. But the answer is as simple as this: love does not conquer all.