What is Love?

This is an excerpt from something I have written, but not posted. I have questions for you to answer after reading this, if you wish.

Note: There is a reference to Raalte, a fictional country in one of my stories; all you really need to know is that they are mainly composed of nomadic tribes. That might help make some things make more sense.
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“Meaningless.”

Everyone looked in surprise, but he ignored them as he continued to speak.

“It is meaningless. Everything, everything is meaningless. What is love, you ask? That which a mother protects her child, who is willing to sacrifice all for her child, is that love? Or perhaps the love an innocent child holds towards his mother? What of the love between husband and wife, between lovers? Nay, for all that is naught but prejudice. It is no different from he who bows before a king, and then whips his slave. So what is love, I ask of you?”

The silence that permeated through the entire room after his outburst only fueled the flames of his temper. He was not known to speak out very often, and yet here he was, giving the rest of us a speech, without any preparation. At least, without any preparation to the extent of my knowledge.

“See, this?” he continued, picking up a handful of dirt that was at our feet, before speaking the most outrageous thing I have ever heard. “This dirt, is love.”

Everyone present began to start clamoring at that sentence. Everyone, but the natives of Raalte. They stood still, as if they understood what he was saying.

“Silence!” His voice, rarely spoken so loudly, with so much pressure, quieted even the loudest of us who were rejecting what he had been saying.

“The sky above our heads, the earth beneath our feet, the vast oceans that go as far as the eyes can see… The blowing wind that brushes against our cheeks, the towering mountains… These are all love.”

I could hear murmurs from those native to Raalte. Something about Father Sky and Mother Earth. He might have heard them, but if he did he ignored them and continued.

“ But… despite all this beauty in the world… is there no love in the heart of man? Why? Why is it, that so many of us, desire for what cannot fulfill us?”

Murmurs rippled through the audience at that, gradually getting louder as he continued to speak until they were in an uproar, loudly rejecting what he said.

“Silence!” He spoke once again, again with that overwhelming pressure. “You and I, we are all the same. None knows how to love all things. None knows the meaning of life, nor the meaning of death.”

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Questions and notes:
What do you think? What did you like and/or dislike about this excerpt?

What are your interpretations?

What kind of feelings did this excerpt make you feel? Did it change the way you think?

What could have been done better?

This excerpt was written spontaneously after a lot of thinking. Rather than write a blog expressing what I thought, I thought it would be more creative to use an excerpt instead.
Did you like this format instead, or would you rather I write normally?