Karem tells Geeta that love isn't a feeling, it's a "choice you renew every day." Do you agree with him?

Karem tells Geeta that love isn't a feeling, it's a commitment – a "choice you renew every day." What do you think of this? Do you agree with him?

I agree, though some days you might just slide into the next day’s decision. Karem’s statement reflects some of the other relationships between the characters in that one day someone in the relationship decided not to renew their choice male or female.

Absolutely. Love and marriage is work. Marriage is hard work. You have to work at it every day to make it work!

An enlightened Karem for sure. Much better than 'love means never having to say you're sorry.' So, love is a commitment that is renewable (but not cancelable, by definition?) Interesting to think about. I'd have to say it is a thing in flux, alive if you will. It needs nurturing, or it can die, or be killed.

I completely agree. Loving someone is a choice, especially on days when you may not like the person very much.

I remember getting to this passage while reading and stopping to take it in more because I loved it so much. It is a very empowering statement. It reminded me that I am in my relationship because I want to be. My husband and I continue to make choices everyday to keep our love strong. He also has reminded me over the years, whether it is about something we are discussing or while parenting our kids, that we all need to choose our battles carefully. That has helped to keep our family grounded on what is truly important to us.

I agree to an extent. Love is a choice, but if you no longer are in love with a person, I’m not sure where that leaves you. You can’t choose something that is no longer there.

Absolutely--and I don't think it is always a conscious renewal--picking up your husband's socks from the floor with a shake of your head and a smile, fluffing his pillow when making the bed--little things you do each day as the thought of him flits through your mind--is remaking that choice. Loving someone is more than being in love--being in love can stop but loving not so much. Being in love sounds transient to me but loving someone is, to me, somehow more than that.

I agree. In a very longtime relationship, people change and keeping love alive requires constant adjustments. In my case, a sixty year affair, my spouse has become handicapped and is losing his sight. These changes have altered our relationship and made it necessary to continually recommit to our love.

Yes, love takes work! It's not a passive activity, and daily renewal, such as Karem mentions, is a necessary part of keeping love alive.

I love this line. Being a choice does not exclude feelings. There is an opportunity to learn and grow in a relationship when you choose that relationship everyday. We sell love short if we are satisfied with it just being a feeling. This line has even more meaning when you step back and see that a Muslim man is saying it to a Hindi woman. Choosing to love, share and grow no matter who you are is powerful. Finally, there is an unspoken openness that makes this relationship endearing.

Yes, I thought this line was poignant and a beautiful sentiment. Feelings come and go but true love is a choice to nurture and tend a commitment to cherish and care for an individual.

I believe this to be so with romantic love, but I'm not so sure with maternal/paternal love, familial love, love of your fellow man, etc. Romantic love begins with a feeling, but it does ultimately also becomes a choice. And there are no easy answers to that choice; there are relationships in which the flaws are too great to overlook, such as the abuse in the "Bandit Queen's" marriages and then there are relationships in which one or both parties don't want to do the necessary work to keep the relationship viable.

I agree with Karem - love is a choice that you make daily - however I also think it is a feeling. It starts from a feeling and grows into something that you want to foster and rekindle on a daily basis.