Do you believe in love?

It’s a simple question and sometimes we wonder whether there is such a

thing. I believed in love since I watched my first Disney movie. I watched Beauty and the Beast on dvd
when I was about three years old, a short while after coming to America. I didn’t quite understand
English yet but the songs and actions came through to me. I watched more princess movies after that
until I had watched them all and at that point, I was sure that love existed. But I only saw it in fairy tales.
And that is how I decided that at five years old, my goal in life would be to become a princess so I could
fall in love and kiss Prince Charming. But as I got older, love came to mean more to me. Simple touches,
coming home from a long day to find food cooked for you, glances from across the room. The little
things that I’ve picked up from movies and books. I don’t think ive ever been in love.

I’ve known that I am different from a traditional American woman. For starters, I am not white
and therefore, I must expect different standards that coincide with my culture. But even so, the
depictions of love that I have seen in Bangladeshi media and movies don’t differ much from American
media. Albeit, south Asian media is a lot more sensored to go along with cultural and religious
standards. Regardless, the only real form of love that I witnessed growing up was on television and from
books. How can I claim that love is real then?

My parents are terrible examples of love. I have never seen them show much affection with
each other (mostly because of religious standards).