Love, that much misunderstood but sought-after thing, is in the air, and is so ubiquitous that you could almost smell it. And yet it can be quite elusive partly because it is often taken for granted by many of the modern-day lesser mortals.

It is no wonder, therefore, that there are certain groups of people in our professedly caring society who have taken it upon themselves to remind us all when and how to express our love, and, of course, why commit that act. They in fact make it their task, nay business, to constantly see to it that we remember to shower our love in ways they consider - and prescribe - as normal and fulfilling.

The expression of love, as a Cupid-struck bloke would tell you, is executed on two levels: the private domain and the public realm. The first kind relates to purely personal relationship. while the second one pertains to a person's relationship to the larger society.

In the private domain, some of those caring people, namely the mass media and manufacturers and sellers of, say, greeting cards and CDs, and florists, take centrestage and play a major role in alerting members of the general public of the crying need to show their love to their dear ones.

These days love - or symbols associated with it - is neatly packaged to help us to grasp with much ease what is made out, by the peddlers of love, to be the true meaning of love. In other words, this love that is made tangible is eventually commodified, a process that is not too dissimilar to the one experienced by the country's education and even healthcare.

Thus, for instance, in the run-up to the recent Valentine's Day, several pieces were written and published by the mainstream press to hail the coming of the amorous day. Greeting cards that flooded the stores in shopping malls cajoled you to say those sweet-sounding words via those red-coloured, but costly, cards. The CD shops, including those selling the expensive originals that Siti Nurhaliza vehemently insisted, made you feel that love-life is not worth living without buying those honey-flavoured songs that are neatly wrapped up in a CD or cassette.

If, however, by chance you missed all these screaming signifiers, you'd indeed be reminded of the auspicious day by CD advertisements on TV that would give you enough reasons why you need to buy those specially-packaged merchandise. And as if to complement this melodious declaration of love, certain radio stations dedicated special song-request programmes for the love-lorn, a golden opportunity not only for the listeners to jam the airwaves with their mushy feelings, but also for the new or remixed numbers to be spun and indirectly advertised.

In addition, you also have the florist who would insist that nothing could be more natural and genuine than expressing your love with a bunch of roses. In short, don't go home without it.

The tremendous effort made by these people must surely be driven by a deep concern to improve the quality of life and love for everyone. It must have dawned upon them that the lifestyle that many of us lead isn't really healthy, both physically and emotionally. The incessant obsession of some marketing and sales executives, for instance, to meet the sales target of the month can result in this kind of people forgetting about what loving human relationship is really all about.

The infinite wisdom of these love-peddlers would also suggest to them that this rat-race world also brings about an inhumane situation where two mutually attracted humans simply don't even have much time for each other, what with one of them having to do a graveyard shift in, for example, one of those factories that are blessed with a 10-year tax holiday.

Given such a social context, surely we can appreciate the efforts made by these love-peddlers. Whatever material profits they gain from this venture surely are coincidental and secondary to their noble intentions.

In the public realm, on the other hand, the sentiments expressed via the mainstream media and actions taken by the government of late suggest that something is amiss when it comes to the rakyat's sense of love for the country, a notion that is often confused with profuse and unqualified loyalty to the government and the leaders.

For example, a Barisan Nasional MP recently expressed his deep concern in the Parliament about what he perceived as a dismal lack of loyalty to the government, particularly among civil servants in the wake of the recent general elections. He then suggested that the civil service code of ethics that governs the behaviour of government officials be re-examined so as to ensure their love for the present government.

The love for the country aka patriotism is also felt debilitating among Malaysians, particularly the younger generation. That is why many BN leaders have always stressed the need for the rakyat to give unwavering support to the government and its leaders in the face of potential threats from the evil foreigners. Love, if we need reminding from a once popular song, will keep us together.

Given the many street demonstrations and the bad-mouthing websites in recent past that only smudge the good image of the country, you would really be hard put to remember Malaysians whose feat could be considered patriotic. Among the few, you could think of the group of Malaysians who was intensely haunted by the maxim, "ain't no mountain high", and subsequently scaled the Mount Everest. There were also those who didn't quite achieve their dreams of making us proud Malaysians, but nonetheless they did try their best, like the lot who caused us to make the mental leap by jumping somewhere near the South Pole.

Just as the commercial peddlers of love are concerned about Malaysians' personal relationships, so is the government. Taking cognizant of the value and importance of familial closeness, the BN government - unlike the Pas state governments in the northern region - has allowed civil servants to take a day off in the first and third Saturdays of the month as a device to encourage them to visit their beloved parents and grandparents. And, of course, along the way you could very well visit various local destinations in a manner that can only be construed as boosting local tourism and, simultaneously, loving our country.

That said, however, we may want to seriously seek our hearts to ascertain whether the kind of love that has been propagated is truly soul-nourishing. For as a famous bard once said, "Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind..."