Ok, I found this in an article (on a Harry Potter site believe it or not). It's quite profound, very revelating and such. So, here it is (I'm really not THAT much of a sap, but sometimes things just stand out and I gotta post 'em.):
"...Love isn't all roses, kisses and walking on pink clouds (unfortunately). I usually describe love as handing someone your heart on a plate with a huge, sharp knife lying beside it. To love someone is to risk being extremely hurt. It's like jumping from a plane, not knowing if you're wearing a parachute or a normal backpack. To be loved makes you feel like the luckiest and happiest person on the planet. To lose love will make you feel the exact opposite. Parents say that the most powerful feeling is the love for their child. Then imagine the feeling of watching that child die... It would probably be more terrible than death itself." -Maline Freden
Yeah, so I thought that was pretty...true. I guess that's why some people hide; they fear the hurt that COULD come about. Although I think the joy can far outstrip the pain, but again that's just me. Cuz you can get over pain (if someone decides to take the sharp knife and jab it into your heart, obviously they shouldn't have had your heart in the first place so theoretically you should ALWAYS be able to get over that pain-unless we go by biology; in that case the pain would kill you cuz holes...in hearts...blood is good-but we're not talking physical heart here guys), but the joy is just...always there; the underlying feeling in everything. So that even when you're in 'the depths if despair' so-to-speak, you've still got something to look foreward to, or something to neutralize the despair at least a little bit. Meh, I'll stop philosophising now and once again leave it to those who can actually do it properly.