There is a lovely idea in the Celtic tradition that if you send out goodness from yourself, or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times. In the kingdom of love there is no competition, there is no possessiveness or control. The more love you give away, the more love you will have.
Both Celtic and Indic languages derive from “Proto-Indo-European,” a language reconstructed by the “comparative method of historical linguistics.” It is thought to have originated in the part of the world now known as Ukraine.
Other branches of “PIE” include: Greek, Germanic, Italic, Balto-Slavic, Hittite, Indo-Iranian and Tocharian.
The “proto-language” carried a common culture, which traveled broadly and changed a lot everywhere it went. It is one of the few great linguistic families we know.
Late on Christmas Eve German troops began unwrapping gifts from home, with many having been sent Christmas trees with candles. As the German soldiers lit their lanterns and displayed them on the edge of their trenches, carol singing broke out. Soon enough the British and French troops joined in. Christmas greetings and well wishes were exchanged, and offers of a temporary ceasefire were communicated between the trenches. Fear and distrust gave way to humanity. As the sun rose on Christmas morning, troops from both sides tentatively made their way out to no man’s land. The troops began to greet one another, and messages and gifts were exchanged. What makes the Truce of 1914 so surprising, is that it was not one truce but many. The British-held area of the Western Front stretched across swathes of land, and was home to a huge number of troops. Dozens of impromptu truces sprung up across the front involving over 100,000 soldiers.
But at least it happened. We have 3 more years of this. Will such a thing happen to us? The prompt was about love defeating hate. Did those people (WW I, not WW II) really hate each other or did they serve as their countries required of them? For perspective from the German side, read "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque
Oh KH. I’ve studied WWI extensively. I’ve read dozens & dozens of books from all sides and genders too. No, those boys didn’t hate each other, not at all during the first year of WWI. If it had not been for their leaders behind them, who by the way were apoplectic at the Christmas Day tench spontaneous cease fire, they would have walked out of that mud back to their homes. Those boys were pawns of men lusting for power and profit. The War to End All Wars was hideous! Hate the power mad leaders, love the 17 year old boys!
I do not understand your repeated assaults, however educated and informed you are, on my post and me. Your "Oh KH," subjective screed is unfortunate. You have no idea how deep my knowledge of WWI is. My post describes a day 5 months after the war started. In no way did I suggest these soldiers were best friends on Xmas day or on any day, only that they traded, however briefly, the hatefulness imposed on them by others for mutual respect, humanity, and kindness. I welcome any reasoned, polite reply you might wish to offer, but if you just want to attack me again, please do not. No doubt you are smarter, more educated and more knowledgeable than I am. In sum, you win, okay?
It is plainly observable that brothers and friends can be made to hate each other by those whose ambitions and egos require it. The age-old question “Are we inherently good or inherently evil” is misleading. There is no “we.” Some are indeed evil and some indeed good. I wish all the bad stuff was overcome with the good stuff but it isn’t. Evil works 24/7. Good works when good people band together and resolve to fight back.
FWIW, I don't believe we have three more years of this. I think that one Big Mac too many will do its work sooner rather than later. I also believe the tide will turn toward decency in less time than we may think.
Do not be made complacent by this notion. The porcine pedophile stands in the way of smarter, more competent and more evil people who want so badly to re-instate slavery and re-write the U.S. Constitution to make America and white Christian theocracy. It is the evil cabal behind Trump that needs to be scrubbed, bleached and thoroughly eradicated. We need to use those immigrant detention center to imprison the insurrectionists and criminal consortium in process of destroying America.
I agree with everything you say; I've believed in the existence of that cabal for decades, and I'm by no means complacent. I simply think that the awakening is occurring---the will and the means to eradicate the evil are coming into our grasp.
Do you trust JDV to lead the country in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution? I believe he is far less venal (personally) but is so disliked by so many of our allies that his February 2026 free trip was to Milan not Munich
I don't trust him at all. The fact that he's more completely a creature of Thiel and other oligarchs makes him more dangerous.
That said, he's disliked by his own party at home, too, and the MAGAs don't worship him, so that could be problematic.
In any case, if the country is indeed reaching a tipping point in terms of intolerance for MAGA policies, J. Divan may be effectively neutered. That's assuming the midterms aren't completely subverted, which is a huge assumption.
Also....and I know this sounds mystical fu-fu, I suspect we're at the beginning of a worldwide awakening of consciousness. To put it in Steve's frame, love is growing. The collective mindset is arc-ing toward justice. I have no objective basis for this theory, but nevertheless, it's what I feel.
Vance is a dangerous POS. He's dangerous because he means what he says. At the same time? He lacks the personality of a cult leader and doesn't have Dementia.
I think your “dangerous POS” description is apt. This guy really creeps me out. Yes, he means what he says (and says what he means) all without any relationship to the truth (by design, inability or both). He does not seem to have dementia (yet), though he too appears to be a demagogic megalomaniac. In terms of his cult, his words speak for themselves: ““In the United States of America, you don't have to apologize for being white anymore," he said. Vance also said the U.S. "always will be a Christian nation," adding that "Christianity is America's creed, the shared moral language from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond."” NPR 22-Dec-25 https://tinyurl.com/udcr6r27
When he is not lying, well, actually, I cannot think of a time that has yet to happen:
• He has also argued that childless members of the “leadership class” are “more sociopathic” and make the country “less mentally stable,” and he’s speculated that the “most deranged” and “most psychotic” critics on social media tended not to have kids.
• I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” he Facebook messaged a friend during Trump’s first run.
• [If] Trump [were to] win in 2024, he would encourage his boss to “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country, and say — quoting Andrew Jackson* — ‘the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’” (*Apocryphal misattribution)
• “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
• You can thank Vance for Trump’s debate lie about Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio. ... [After] the couch-sex rumor, a screenshot of a Vance tweet from February 2024 went viral. “Maybe the internet was a mistake,” he wrote above a clip headlined “woman gets violated by a dolphin and enjoys it.”
Terry, What you said is a generalization but it certainly seems true. I came to understand over many years that there are some people for whom love cannot reach apparently. These people are what we’ve been calling malignant narcissists.
I’m without a partner right now, so spending Valentine’s Day on my own. That doesn’t mean it’s without love, however. Love for yourself is where it all starts. Sometimes we fail to understand that basic premise. Without it, it’s difficult to either accept love or express it wholeheartedly for others. It’s a shadow of its proper self. Practicing self care is vital, especially while living in the toxic hellscape this country has become. The regime wants us at each other’s throats. Pam Bondi’s reprehensible performance in Congress this week was a perfect example. No meaningful engagement or accountability, just games and deflection.
Barbara, yesterday, I got to be cared for by one of my favorite nurses. That is true love! We talked about her upcoming trip and she promised to bring a picture if where they are vacationing. She's like having the love of a sister close by. Look around your world, you are so loved!
Nurses are truly some of the most caring people. I saw it frequently as my mom was dying of cancer and slipping further away into dementia. Health care workers, from nurses on down, take care of us when our own families can’t. It’s priceless.
Hundreds of millions of years ago single celled organisms “learned” to come together and become multicellular organisms that opened up amazing possibilities that led to the diversity of life and eventually to us. Cooperation and love is powerful and baked into life itself!
in times like these, I am comforted by Madeleine L’Engel’s books. She returns often to the theme of evil. Her characters explain to children that before there was light and order, there was darkness and chaos. Every so often, that darkness and chaos erupt again, as is happening now. It is up to each of us to bring love and order back to the universe.
I have to ask. I debated endlessly about this. Does the US citizenry even know about Canada’s recent tragedy? The one your President ignored. The one that Canadians are sending their love to this weekend. I know Canada is a “middle” power, I know the US has severe internal issues that require addressing. But Canada has stood by you throughout, but not a word has Canada heard for one of the worst tragedies in Canada in decades. Maybe it’s just my neediness, but in Canada a school shooting is beyond the pale. It’s extraordinary, it gut us
The current POTUS has no receptor sites for other people’s pain, even as he causes more of it. Official silence doesn’t mean that people didn’t see news of what happened and weep with you. It was an eruption of evil. Enfolding you in love and light.
Senseless and so sad as all gun violence is - especially towards children in what should be a safe space. From written reports it seems the Canadian government will do something to stop it. Unlike the United States
Just listened to part of Rubio’s Munich presentation. He excoriated the *fools* who subscribed to ‘The End of History’ - which was *his* gang’s lead product just a few years ago, wasn’t it? Excuse me, but it’s like watching someone punch himself in the face, isn’t it? There is no escape, he says, from Tribalism - nor should there be. It’s ‘human nature’ and we must embrace it and ‘hate all the people your relatives hate’. Why am I listening to this man of zero accomplishment, zero achievement, zero distinction, representing a clown of even less of those? Does he give anyone any confidence that he (or his ‘daddy’) has ever read a book all the way through?
Someone please talk me down. I feel like a character trapped in a Lewis Carroll invention
Love is manifested in so many ways. In Minneapolis, for example, people blew whistles to alert their neighbors that ICE was in the vicinity. That’s a showing of love for our neighbors. In every city in this country there are people who care about the underprivileged who have a low level of income. There are food pantries, clothing give aways, backpacks for school children. All of these are expressions of love. It is definitely more prevalent than the hate spewed by those who are selfish users of resources and don’t care about the people next door.
Those who spread love are much happier people than the haters. Hate breeds misery.
Excellent point about communities caring for their neighbors, Sharon. That caring IS stronger than the hatred spewed by the MAGAs, their leader, and his lackeys. What you describe are the actions of Mr. Rogers' "helpers," and they embody unselfish love.
Love and hate are both powerful but in different ways. Love is better for the heart, soul and mind and keeps you happy and committed. Fear and hate keep you in line. My 2 cts
Look, Friends…it is exquisitely simple. On its face, love is a CHOICE; love of self and others. Call it trite, but I do adhere to the notion that I can always choose love. In fact, choosing love, albeit sometimes reluctantly, is the only choice that makes sense if we are going to bring all the things into being for which we yearn: justice, peace, respect, compassion and, dare I say…joy? Everyone knows that choosing love must also leave room for righteous anger, but we’re going to have to try to view this world through love-colored glasses if we are to live in harmony with others and the only planet we’ve got. Love sees each and all of us as equal partners in our respective journeys through life. I’ve been married over 50 years and can attest to the fact that I have always loved my husband through good times and times that threatened our relationship.
We have to choose authentic love now more than ever, or, in my opinion, our country and our civilization as we know it won’t survive. Happy Valentine’s Day to all lovers of life out there!
Is love more powerful than hate? Steve, that is a challenge question. I parse it as follows. Love is constructive. Hate is destructive. Love is positive. Hate is negative. Love is compassionate. Hate is unfeeling. (There are many antonyms.) Throughout my life I have puzzled over how easily and quickly hate destroys. Take for example Donald and Melania Trump. They were directly responsible for the destruction of the East Wing of the White House. They destroyed the Rose Garden. He planted his name on The Kennedy Center. Their negativity will have a lasting impact on our country. Take another example: The Twin Towers in New York City. It took years to build those iconic towers and only hours to destroy them. Trump’s reaction as a New Yorker: He now had the tallest buildings in New York City. Sadly, hate becomes the more destructive force. Love as a positive requires much time to build and secure. Hate can destroy in one fell swoop what love (positive force) took a long time to build or create. It is the old story of good versus evil. Love is good. Hate is evil. We are witnessing hate’s dominion over our country. If not stopped, hate will prevail.
Thank you for this seemingly simple question Steven, and happy anniversary to you and your spouse. ❤️
Although we often bandy about these two words, it is their underlying directions that seem most opposite to me.
Love is to openly throw your optimistic trust out towards other beings and creatures. Hate is to push away, to block and shut out energy and positive flow from gentle and healing life forces.
I choose love even it would at first seem to make us more vulnerable. It has never let me down.
I am most fortunate to be married to the love of my life for over 50 years, and we will also be celebrating that tonight.
But among the things that we now do is one that really feeds our souls in these troubling times. We connected with a local organization that feeds the homeless and their pets. Every Sunday, there is a PopUp Supper in a public location where the folks who are homeless can find donations of clothing, toiletries, tarps, blankets, pet food, etc. as well as a hot meal served by volunteers.
The group is also about to sponsor a second free vaccination clinic for pets of the homeless.
During the week, a group of volunteers also goes through the streets and alleyways to distribute clothing, etc. as well as bags of snacks for the hungry.
The folks who attend the PopUp Suppers are always so grateful. Some will tell us that it is their first meal in days.
It reminds me of a song from when our children were young…about love being something that if you give it away, you end up having more.
The PopUp Supper, especially the inclusion of food and supplies for pets, is a brilliant idea, Hollyanna. Bravo to you and the love of your life for supporting the effort!
Hate is a manifestation of fear, and fear is always overcome by love. This I believe.
What else? Courage is love. Let's save the vote, shall we?
There is a lovely idea in the Celtic tradition that if you send out goodness from yourself, or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times. In the kingdom of love there is no competition, there is no possessiveness or control. The more love you give away, the more love you will have.
JOHN O'DONOHUE
Excerpt from the book, Anam Cara
The Indic tradition calls this “karma.”
Both Celtic and Indic languages derive from “Proto-Indo-European,” a language reconstructed by the “comparative method of historical linguistics.” It is thought to have originated in the part of the world now known as Ukraine.
Other branches of “PIE” include: Greek, Germanic, Italic, Balto-Slavic, Hittite, Indo-Iranian and Tocharian.
The “proto-language” carried a common culture, which traveled broadly and changed a lot everywhere it went. It is one of the few great linguistic families we know.
Yes.
“Whoever gives nothing, has nothing. The greatest misfortune is not to be unloved, but not to love.” - Albert Camus
WW I Christmas Truce, 1914 https://www.visionofhumanity.org/the-christmas-truce/
Late on Christmas Eve German troops began unwrapping gifts from home, with many having been sent Christmas trees with candles. As the German soldiers lit their lanterns and displayed them on the edge of their trenches, carol singing broke out. Soon enough the British and French troops joined in. Christmas greetings and well wishes were exchanged, and offers of a temporary ceasefire were communicated between the trenches. Fear and distrust gave way to humanity. As the sun rose on Christmas morning, troops from both sides tentatively made their way out to no man’s land. The troops began to greet one another, and messages and gifts were exchanged. What makes the Truce of 1914 so surprising, is that it was not one truce but many. The British-held area of the Western Front stretched across swathes of land, and was home to a huge number of troops. Dozens of impromptu truces sprung up across the front involving over 100,000 soldiers.
This is an anecdote I have heard before, but it strikes the same sentiments of joy and wonder I felt the first time I heard it
And as quickly as it started, it ended. With 3 more years of horror, death and bloodshed.
But at least it happened. We have 3 more years of this. Will such a thing happen to us? The prompt was about love defeating hate. Did those people (WW I, not WW II) really hate each other or did they serve as their countries required of them? For perspective from the German side, read "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque
Oh KH. I’ve studied WWI extensively. I’ve read dozens & dozens of books from all sides and genders too. No, those boys didn’t hate each other, not at all during the first year of WWI. If it had not been for their leaders behind them, who by the way were apoplectic at the Christmas Day tench spontaneous cease fire, they would have walked out of that mud back to their homes. Those boys were pawns of men lusting for power and profit. The War to End All Wars was hideous! Hate the power mad leaders, love the 17 year old boys!
I do not understand your repeated assaults, however educated and informed you are, on my post and me. Your "Oh KH," subjective screed is unfortunate. You have no idea how deep my knowledge of WWI is. My post describes a day 5 months after the war started. In no way did I suggest these soldiers were best friends on Xmas day or on any day, only that they traded, however briefly, the hatefulness imposed on them by others for mutual respect, humanity, and kindness. I welcome any reasoned, polite reply you might wish to offer, but if you just want to attack me again, please do not. No doubt you are smarter, more educated and more knowledgeable than I am. In sum, you win, okay?
It is plainly observable that brothers and friends can be made to hate each other by those whose ambitions and egos require it. The age-old question “Are we inherently good or inherently evil” is misleading. There is no “we.” Some are indeed evil and some indeed good. I wish all the bad stuff was overcome with the good stuff but it isn’t. Evil works 24/7. Good works when good people band together and resolve to fight back.
FWIW, I don't believe we have three more years of this. I think that one Big Mac too many will do its work sooner rather than later. I also believe the tide will turn toward decency in less time than we may think.
Do not be made complacent by this notion. The porcine pedophile stands in the way of smarter, more competent and more evil people who want so badly to re-instate slavery and re-write the U.S. Constitution to make America and white Christian theocracy. It is the evil cabal behind Trump that needs to be scrubbed, bleached and thoroughly eradicated. We need to use those immigrant detention center to imprison the insurrectionists and criminal consortium in process of destroying America.
I agree with everything you say; I've believed in the existence of that cabal for decades, and I'm by no means complacent. I simply think that the awakening is occurring---the will and the means to eradicate the evil are coming into our grasp.
Do you trust JDV to lead the country in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution? I believe he is far less venal (personally) but is so disliked by so many of our allies that his February 2026 free trip was to Milan not Munich
I don't trust him at all. The fact that he's more completely a creature of Thiel and other oligarchs makes him more dangerous.
That said, he's disliked by his own party at home, too, and the MAGAs don't worship him, so that could be problematic.
In any case, if the country is indeed reaching a tipping point in terms of intolerance for MAGA policies, J. Divan may be effectively neutered. That's assuming the midterms aren't completely subverted, which is a huge assumption.
Also....and I know this sounds mystical fu-fu, I suspect we're at the beginning of a worldwide awakening of consciousness. To put it in Steve's frame, love is growing. The collective mindset is arc-ing toward justice. I have no objective basis for this theory, but nevertheless, it's what I feel.
Vance is a dangerous POS. He's dangerous because he means what he says. At the same time? He lacks the personality of a cult leader and doesn't have Dementia.
I think your “dangerous POS” description is apt. This guy really creeps me out. Yes, he means what he says (and says what he means) all without any relationship to the truth (by design, inability or both). He does not seem to have dementia (yet), though he too appears to be a demagogic megalomaniac. In terms of his cult, his words speak for themselves: ““In the United States of America, you don't have to apologize for being white anymore," he said. Vance also said the U.S. "always will be a Christian nation," adding that "Christianity is America's creed, the shared moral language from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond."” NPR 22-Dec-25 https://tinyurl.com/udcr6r27
When he is not lying, well, actually, I cannot think of a time that has yet to happen:
• He has also argued that childless members of the “leadership class” are “more sociopathic” and make the country “less mentally stable,” and he’s speculated that the “most deranged” and “most psychotic” critics on social media tended not to have kids.
• I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” he Facebook messaged a friend during Trump’s first run.
• [If] Trump [were to] win in 2024, he would encourage his boss to “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country, and say — quoting Andrew Jackson* — ‘the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’” (*Apocryphal misattribution)
• “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
• You can thank Vance for Trump’s debate lie about Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio. ... [After] the couch-sex rumor, a screenshot of a Vance tweet from February 2024 went viral. “Maybe the internet was a mistake,” he wrote above a clip headlined “woman gets violated by a dolphin and enjoys it.”
Source: The Cut (2024 Election; undated) https://tinyurl.com/bdfvuauu
How is your post responsive or relevant to my post or to today's theme?
The fact that you hate yourself and your life does not mean or imply that anyone else feels differently about you or should. Happy Valentine's Day
Terry, What you said is a generalization but it certainly seems true. I came to understand over many years that there are some people for whom love cannot reach apparently. These people are what we’ve been calling malignant narcissists.
I think that the people of Minnesota have just demonstrated the truth of this belief that love is stronger than hate
I’m without a partner right now, so spending Valentine’s Day on my own. That doesn’t mean it’s without love, however. Love for yourself is where it all starts. Sometimes we fail to understand that basic premise. Without it, it’s difficult to either accept love or express it wholeheartedly for others. It’s a shadow of its proper self. Practicing self care is vital, especially while living in the toxic hellscape this country has become. The regime wants us at each other’s throats. Pam Bondi’s reprehensible performance in Congress this week was a perfect example. No meaningful engagement or accountability, just games and deflection.
Barbara, yesterday, I got to be cared for by one of my favorite nurses. That is true love! We talked about her upcoming trip and she promised to bring a picture if where they are vacationing. She's like having the love of a sister close by. Look around your world, you are so loved!
Nurses are truly some of the most caring people. I saw it frequently as my mom was dying of cancer and slipping further away into dementia. Health care workers, from nurses on down, take care of us when our own families can’t. It’s priceless.
Hundreds of millions of years ago single celled organisms “learned” to come together and become multicellular organisms that opened up amazing possibilities that led to the diversity of life and eventually to us. Cooperation and love is powerful and baked into life itself!
in times like these, I am comforted by Madeleine L’Engel’s books. She returns often to the theme of evil. Her characters explain to children that before there was light and order, there was darkness and chaos. Every so often, that darkness and chaos erupt again, as is happening now. It is up to each of us to bring love and order back to the universe.
I have to ask. I debated endlessly about this. Does the US citizenry even know about Canada’s recent tragedy? The one your President ignored. The one that Canadians are sending their love to this weekend. I know Canada is a “middle” power, I know the US has severe internal issues that require addressing. But Canada has stood by you throughout, but not a word has Canada heard for one of the worst tragedies in Canada in decades. Maybe it’s just my neediness, but in Canada a school shooting is beyond the pale. It’s extraordinary, it gut us
It’s extraordinary to me how many times my heart can break and then miraculously become whole again and that is through love and sending compassion.
Yes, we did hear about it. I’m so sorry. I hope the worst of America is not spreading up to Canada. Please stay strong.🙏😔
I did read about it and my heart breaks for this tragedy. People here in the US are seeing it and feeling the impact.
The current POTUS has no receptor sites for other people’s pain, even as he causes more of it. Official silence doesn’t mean that people didn’t see news of what happened and weep with you. It was an eruption of evil. Enfolding you in love and light.
Senseless and so sad as all gun violence is - especially towards children in what should be a safe space. From written reports it seems the Canadian government will do something to stop it. Unlike the United States
Just listened to part of Rubio’s Munich presentation. He excoriated the *fools* who subscribed to ‘The End of History’ - which was *his* gang’s lead product just a few years ago, wasn’t it? Excuse me, but it’s like watching someone punch himself in the face, isn’t it? There is no escape, he says, from Tribalism - nor should there be. It’s ‘human nature’ and we must embrace it and ‘hate all the people your relatives hate’. Why am I listening to this man of zero accomplishment, zero achievement, zero distinction, representing a clown of even less of those? Does he give anyone any confidence that he (or his ‘daddy’) has ever read a book all the way through?
Someone please talk me down. I feel like a character trapped in a Lewis Carroll invention
Love is manifested in so many ways. In Minneapolis, for example, people blew whistles to alert their neighbors that ICE was in the vicinity. That’s a showing of love for our neighbors. In every city in this country there are people who care about the underprivileged who have a low level of income. There are food pantries, clothing give aways, backpacks for school children. All of these are expressions of love. It is definitely more prevalent than the hate spewed by those who are selfish users of resources and don’t care about the people next door.
Those who spread love are much happier people than the haters. Hate breeds misery.
Excellent point about communities caring for their neighbors, Sharon. That caring IS stronger than the hatred spewed by the MAGAs, their leader, and his lackeys. What you describe are the actions of Mr. Rogers' "helpers," and they embody unselfish love.
"And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love, you make."
-The Beatles
Love and hate are both powerful but in different ways. Love is better for the heart, soul and mind and keeps you happy and committed. Fear and hate keep you in line. My 2 cts
Look, Friends…it is exquisitely simple. On its face, love is a CHOICE; love of self and others. Call it trite, but I do adhere to the notion that I can always choose love. In fact, choosing love, albeit sometimes reluctantly, is the only choice that makes sense if we are going to bring all the things into being for which we yearn: justice, peace, respect, compassion and, dare I say…joy? Everyone knows that choosing love must also leave room for righteous anger, but we’re going to have to try to view this world through love-colored glasses if we are to live in harmony with others and the only planet we’ve got. Love sees each and all of us as equal partners in our respective journeys through life. I’ve been married over 50 years and can attest to the fact that I have always loved my husband through good times and times that threatened our relationship.
We have to choose authentic love now more than ever, or, in my opinion, our country and our civilization as we know it won’t survive. Happy Valentine’s Day to all lovers of life out there!
Is love more powerful than hate? Steve, that is a challenge question. I parse it as follows. Love is constructive. Hate is destructive. Love is positive. Hate is negative. Love is compassionate. Hate is unfeeling. (There are many antonyms.) Throughout my life I have puzzled over how easily and quickly hate destroys. Take for example Donald and Melania Trump. They were directly responsible for the destruction of the East Wing of the White House. They destroyed the Rose Garden. He planted his name on The Kennedy Center. Their negativity will have a lasting impact on our country. Take another example: The Twin Towers in New York City. It took years to build those iconic towers and only hours to destroy them. Trump’s reaction as a New Yorker: He now had the tallest buildings in New York City. Sadly, hate becomes the more destructive force. Love as a positive requires much time to build and secure. Hate can destroy in one fell swoop what love (positive force) took a long time to build or create. It is the old story of good versus evil. Love is good. Hate is evil. We are witnessing hate’s dominion over our country. If not stopped, hate will prevail.
Thank you for this seemingly simple question Steven, and happy anniversary to you and your spouse. ❤️
Although we often bandy about these two words, it is their underlying directions that seem most opposite to me.
Love is to openly throw your optimistic trust out towards other beings and creatures. Hate is to push away, to block and shut out energy and positive flow from gentle and healing life forces.
I choose love even it would at first seem to make us more vulnerable. It has never let me down.
I am most fortunate to be married to the love of my life for over 50 years, and we will also be celebrating that tonight.
But among the things that we now do is one that really feeds our souls in these troubling times. We connected with a local organization that feeds the homeless and their pets. Every Sunday, there is a PopUp Supper in a public location where the folks who are homeless can find donations of clothing, toiletries, tarps, blankets, pet food, etc. as well as a hot meal served by volunteers.
The group is also about to sponsor a second free vaccination clinic for pets of the homeless.
During the week, a group of volunteers also goes through the streets and alleyways to distribute clothing, etc. as well as bags of snacks for the hungry.
The folks who attend the PopUp Suppers are always so grateful. Some will tell us that it is their first meal in days.
It reminds me of a song from when our children were young…about love being something that if you give it away, you end up having more.
The PopUp Supper, especially the inclusion of food and supplies for pets, is a brilliant idea, Hollyanna. Bravo to you and the love of your life for supporting the effort!
Thank you for this article. We all need a break from the insanity happening in the country.