In relative terms, I haven’t been on this earth all that long. I’ve only lived about a quarter of my life (assuming I don’t get hit by a bus at 25), and it’s safe to say that my life has just barely begun. I do however know that 20 years is enough time to learn some things. And let me tell you, I’ve learned some pretty important stuff like how to stand up for myself and exactly how long to microwave popcorn to pop it perfectly. In short though, I think the most significant, and quite frankly, the easiest thing I’ve learned over the years is how to love.
As it turns out, my family has always revolved around love. Our lives thrive on the ideas of honesty, giving and patience (although I’m not too sure my parents drilled that last one into my head deep enough because I’m the most impatient person I know). That aside, the idea was that if you had a whole lot of love in your heart, you’d live a much happier life and maybe make the world a little brighter, too. It’s something I strive for every day. I joined a sorority whose open motto is “let us steadfastly love one another,” for crying out loud. I know that life gets rough and worlds get rocked, but that’s no excuse to stop giving love. If anything, it’s a reason to give more of it, and in this crazy, messy world of ours, love is something we all need right now.
With all of the racial controversy and multiple shootings in the news lately, it’s clear that there’s some people out there who have made some not-so-great decisions. It seems every day that there's a new tragedy in the world. For many of us, it’s easy to feel hatred towards the ones who are wreaking so much havoc, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In my eyes, more hatred will simply lead to more violence, riots, and discrimination. I saw an article in regard to the Charleston shooter, Dylann Roof, where a gospel singer and victim of a gang initiation shooting made a comment on Roof’s Facebook page in response to his actions. It was not a comment full of hate, but rather full of love. He said, “I don’t look at you with the eyes of hatred, or judge you by your appearance or race, but I look at you as a human being that made a horrible decision to take the lives of 9 living and breathing people.” He then goes on to remind him that he is loved not only by the gospel singer, but by Christ as well.
You see, so many of us judge while we set ourselves on a pedestal ridiculing those who have wronged us. We prefer to blame the government or the media or our next door neighbor for things going awry when we could be taking the hate out of our lives and replacing it simply with love. I truly do believe that good things will happen if we can all just learn to give a little love. I know it may not be the solution to everything, but it definitely can’t hurt.
In a live version of one of my favorite John Mayer songs (but who am I kidding, they’re all my favorite), he stops in the middle of the song to talk to the crowd and he goes on and on about what he’s done in his life and what he wants to do. Finally towards the end of his rant he goes, “…I’ve messed with all the approaches except for one…and that’s just love. I’ve done everything in my life that I’ve wanted to do except just give and feel love for my living.”
You see people, even John Mayer just wants a little love in his life. I think we all do, but for some of us it’s just a little scary to give it sometimes. It’s time to wake up and realize that the world NEEDS love if we ever want to survive in this crazy place. We have to learn that people are going to be different from us; love them anyways. People are going to hurt us; love them anyways. I may not know everything, despite what I told my mom as a teenager, but I do know that with a little love, we can make this world a lot more livable.
