Quite possibly the most important emotion a person can feel is love. Love fuels jealousy, it makes anger stronger, it starts wars, and it ends wars. Love kills and it saves. Love is the closest thing we have to magic and love is what can save us all. There's reason scripture says love is the greatest gift we were given. Love is potent and passionate and all encompassing and it's exactly what the world needs more of in times of darkness.

First, remember to love yourself. You are a living, breathing, thinking, human being. Do you know how amazing you are? Your mind is so full of amazing ideas and your heart is so full of love and some of that love should go to yourself. You certainly don't have to love yourself in order to love others, don't listen to that ridiculous theory, but you should learn to love yourself. You don't need to look a certain way or make certain grades or have a significant other to be worthy of self-love, you deserve to love yourself just because you wake up in the morning. There is no need for you to do extraordinary things to feel validated, sometimes the best thing you can do is just to make someone else laugh. I promise, that you are worthy and that you can do anything you want, just remember to remind yourself of that from time to time. There is so much negativity in the world, please don't let that negativity grow inside yourself.

Second, remember to love your family and friends. We only get so much time with the people we care about and we will never know how much time we get. It could be decades, but maybe it's only months or years, but always cherish those moments. I know it's so easy to tell our family that we love them, but sometimes we forget to tell our friends. Personally, I end almost every conversation with my close friends with "I love you" because I've seen how quickly they can be taken. Love your friends and family even when they get on your last nerve, even when they upset you, even when they are too broken to love you back. Spreading love starts right at home. Don't take anyone for granted and remember that you can't tell people you love them enough and you certainly can't say it too much.

Lastly, remember to love your neighbor. Ah, the golden rule, obviously this doesn't mean to love the person you live next to, but to love everyone. This "rule" doesn't mean to only love the people who look or act or believe the same as you, it means to love everyone. It's time we stop condemning each other because of skin color, religion, political beliefs, sexuality, etc. The world doesn't need more destruction and hate. We need to come together, learn to put aside our differences, and accept that we are all different people. Things will fall apart if can't all work together. Do not let hate take a hold of your heart, do not let differences push us apart. A house divided cannot stand and a world without love is a dark world with no foreseeable future.

Love is not weakness, loving those with hardened hearts, loving those who don't always deserve it, that is true strength, a strength I think we all need to find in ourselves. We cannot expect to move forward, to grow, if we cannot stop the hatred of our fellow men and women.