Love and hate are two words we incorporate into our everyday vocabularies beginning in early childhood. Our usage of these words is first rooted in harmless phrases. “I love Spider-Man,” or “I hate broccoli.” As we develop into complex emotional beings, so does our language. “I love that color on you!” and “I hate calculus homework” are just two examples of these heavily used words.
The dichotomy that these words have formed in our world has been put under the spotlight across historical eras. In times of injustice, whether it be slavery in the 19th century or unwarranted police violence in the 21st, people have always been urged to “spread love, not hate.”
We have created the narrative that love is the most adequate way to rid the world of inequality, and it’s easy to see why: we have been taught that what stands diametrically opposed to hate is love. In order to solve racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., we must harbor what they do not: love. Right?
The answer? Maybe. The fundamental issue is that love cannot and will not solve all of our problems. I’m not denouncing the importance of love; it is a beautiful and humanizing place to start. But we deny ourselves the opportunity to seek and enact actual change when we replace palpable solutions with holding hands, singing Kumbaya, and hoping circumstances will get better when the sun rises the next day. The notion that we should “kill [others] with kindness” is founded on blind optimism. Love is noble, but it is not the one-stop shop for the intolerances that hinder our society.
In my humble opinion, the opposite of hate is not love. It’s turning that love into action. The harmful thing about love is that we can do so passively. By using love as the ultimate solution, we may scratch the surface of the issue, but never chip away at its core. As such, here are some ways you can solve society’s greatest ills alongside spreading love:
1. Vote
I cannot stress this enough. Voting is the very bottom of the totem pole in terms of political participation and is one of the easiest ways to amplify your opinions. All it takes is registering, waiting in line, and tapping a screen or filling out a ballot. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
2. Attend town hall meetings
Town hall meetings often have the reputation of being attended by only heavily politically active citizens. But a town hall meeting can open doors that phone calls or emails can’t. Having interpersonal dialogue with your leaders is necessary to instigating change in your area.
3. Protest peacefully
Especially in light of the recent events in Charlottesville, protesting has been portrayed as extremely dangerous by the media. Resorting to violence is brash, ineffective, and hypocritical. However, peaceful protests foster a sense of activism that can be found nowhere else. America’s greatest political statements can be found in protests, whether it be the Boston Tea Party, the March on Washington, or University of Virginia students standing against the racism that plagued their campus.
We can love. But we can do so much more than that, too. And there is no better time than the present to do so.
