Is it love?

Love is a powerful emotion it can be sweet, gentle, kind, and a force to move mountains. It can be destructive, cruel, hateful, or a reason to lie down and die. An emotion that can do so much can freeze a nation in terror, explode a population, or cause a grown man to fall to tears.

We love to love as a people. We love our nation and all that it represents. We love it enough to stand on a flag and shout obscenities when we disagree with a leader’s policies. We love our country enough to vote on election day and then throw a temper tantrum with protests when we don’t get our way. We love the diversity of our nation and pride ourselves on acceptance, but we stir hate into the minds of our kids when we teach them to pray for things that fit within our boxes.

We love enough to explode our population after a great war. We love enough to send that new population off to war when they are ripe enough to go. We love our children so much that we have an exploding foster care system of kids that were not loved enough, and graveyards of kids that were loved to death. We love family and time as a family but are quick to shove family to the side of the road when something better comes along.

A grown man is tough and doesn’t shed tears when times are tough, but love can humble him to his knees with tears of joy or pain. He can show the world he loves with acts of service to his nation or by acts of hatred on the evening news. He can love enough to protect all that he holds dear or tear it all apart with bare hands or harsh words.

Love is shown everyday with acts of kindness to the person who needs a hand up or by the person who can't give that same downtrodden person the time of day with a shove back in the metaphorical hole they crawled out of. People ask when is enough for giving someone a hand up are they really asking do I really have to put my hand out at all?

The example of love is shown by how we give it, and it doesn't have to be everything in our wallets. Sometimes that hand up isn't for the person you're giving it to it is for the person watching or even just for you. It is your example of love but are you doing it for praise and adoration or because you are human and understand the concept of love and acceptance.

The differences of man, woman, child, race, culture, state, nation, or continent makes our planet a diverse source of love and hate. We are a people of contradiction or confusion. We say and do what we believe with acts of peace saying it is love or violence for the simple emotion of hate. But in the same vein we see violence daily and the perpetrator say they do it out of love.

The word love is a confusing concept that we can learn from. Our examples of how we show love are powerful messages those around us see, learn from, and absorb. What example do you show and why do you show it? We can move mountains, walk on water, or let a child see a world that can change everything for good or bad by one simple act of our version of love. What kind of love are we showing to those who are watching?