How can you be sure

In a recent post from What Could I Really Say?, atypicalheroine made a very profound statement based on a conversation she had years ago:

When I was in my teens, my older best friend told me she wished she was beautiful like me, because I'd always have the admiration of men. I responded, that a beautiful woman no more knows if she's loved than a wealthy man.

While I cannot relate to either the beautiful woman or the wealthy man, I can wonder about the wealthy man and how he would know he was loved.

We live in a world where the things that seem to attract are the superficial and transitory. A man's wealth is not a sure thing. Riches come and go and if love is based on wealth and value on what a man can give, other than his body, soul and love, then that love is doomed. If a woman falls for a man's wealth and not with the man, he is being used.

But I am not sure that it is always the case that a woman consciously goes for wealth. I believe, too often, it is the sense of security that wealth represents. And I ask you, what happens when the bottom drops out of the man's wealth? Will she still love him or will she realize that all she loved was his money?

The same could be said of beauty. Beauty can be marred and damaged. Physical beauty fades with age. The man that falls for physical beauty and doesn't see beyond it will lose interest if that beauty fails or when it fades.

True attraction cannot take into account things that are not guaranteed - love, respect, admiration, loyalty and friendship. These are the only things that can be counted on when love is real. If you find that you are looking for more, you are losing out on the only things you can count on.