Expressions of love might seem unimportant and useless. There might be people who have never had any type of love; there might be others who have been loved. What are the reasons? Are people conscious about how love might affect their lives positively or negatively? I think love should be an honest, pure expression of true caring for other people. When you do that, you do it unconsciously, because you have received and felt it, and it is unconditional love.

People in my country are well-known for being caring and friendly. In my hometown, Coronel Oviedo, which is a small city where everybody knows each other, when we pass by our neighbor, a person we know, or even a stranger, we always say “adiós” to each other. If you think about it, it’s kind of funny, because the translation of “adiós” is “bye.” Saying adiós is a way to express love; people look at each other's face at least once, and you might steal a smile from someone who is having a tough day.

Another caring expression in Paraguay is a religious one, which is normal to expect from a country whose population is Christian. When visiting relatives, most of the time grandparents, when greeting them you ask for their blessing, which consists of putting your hands together, and they say “que Dios te bendiga (God bless you).” This has been a great familiar tradition.

Love expressions affect our daily lives, in a good way or in a bad way. I’m sure there are a thousand more different love expressions around the world, but I like to think that they all mean the same: I care about you. If you say something nice to a person you know, surely they’ll be happy about it, and you have made their day a little bit happier. By telling people how much you love them, you are not just making them happy, you are making yourself happy, too. Expressing love and affection is sometimes difficult, or even uncomfortable. But I think it is really important to let people know how much you love them, because you don’t know when it is going to be too late.