Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem; it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” What do you think of when you hear the word violence? Fear? Aggression? Crime? All pretty intimidating words if you ask me. And whenever I see or hear those words being used in the daily news, it horrifies me. It horrifies me because it seems like there is one problem after another. It horrifies me because we are not only having to worry about threats from outside the United States, but now from the inside. It horrifies me because I know I am not the only one sad. I am not the only one hurting and wishing the violence in our country would cease to exist. Sometimes it feels hopeless, like no one can do anything, especially not me — just a small town citizen who doesn’t have a voice or power in this world. However, there is one thing that can give me and whoever else feels powerless a voice in this suffering world, and that’s love. That sounds horribly cheesy, and it almost sounds like nonsense, but what do you think of when you think of the word love? Happiness? Unconditional? Passion? Those words bring a lot more comfort than the ones listed earlier.
Love can make you feel safe, and it doesn’t have to be that lovey dovey, romantic kind of love to make you feel that way. It can be the simple things. It’s showing kindness to that random person you saw at the grocery store. It’s smiling and saying “hello” to that guy you see every day at work. Stuff like that can change a person’s day. And sometimes it is not the little things. Sometimes it is learning to accept someone’s opinion, even if you don’t agree with it. It’s learning not to judge or despise someone because they don’t like your opinion. It can be learning to ignore a Facebook rant you don’t agree with.
In the past couple of weeks, I have seen so much hate on all of my social media sites. People have been fighting and arguing, and most of the time it is over a difference in opinions. A difference in opinions is fine; it’s normal, but when people start to get nasty and mean, it all goes south. You know what I say? Keep your opinion; it is yours. Like they say, you are entitled to your own opinion, so let everyone else be entitled to their own. Love each other without thinking about each other’s differences. These issues continue to get more and more violent. It scares me because people are killing each other over a difference in opinions. Americans are killing Americans. But bottom line — humans are killing humans, and the violent outbreaks are not going to change any problems we face.
My favorite Bible verse is 1 Corinthians 16:14, “Let all that you do be done in love.” I love it because while it is a short one, it speaks to me. I know that not everyone believes in religion, and that is fine; that’s your business. But I believe anyone can read that statement, believer or not, and find some sort of inspiration or comfort in it. You don’t have to be a believer to understand that love makes our world a better place. You don’t have to pray to a god or a supernatural being to know that love is the most powerful action, alliance and strength you can have in your life. Because at the end of the day, love will find a way to survive, while violence and destruction will destroy itself and everything/everyone in its path. It doesn’t matter what side of the argument you are on because you can find a middle ground with love, not with hate. While hate gives violent outcomes and destruction, love will bring light and hope. We just have to learn to allow love to take over our disagreements. Love can and will conquer our problems; we need to learn to allow it to do its job.
