There, I said it again. And I mean it.
The word - "love" - like used by Subaru or Verizon to sell cars and phones is easy to throw around carelessly. But real love isn't an affect, or a tag line that polls well with a focus group.
It is backed by action. True love of humanity requires sincerity and work.
It's no throwaway mushy sop when it's real love. And it is hard sometimes to rise above pettiness and disgust, because I am far from perfect or spiritually pure. I am a sinner and faulty.
However, when I argue with opposing folks, or even mock and express disdain, I don't hate them. No, I love them. I don't know how to hate. I wasn't taught to hate. Nobody I respected ever showed me hate. I was raised in a loving family - a tough family at times - but always reinforced with love.
I was told by the sisters and priests at my Catholic schools to take that love which God had demonstrated out into the world and live it. My parents, same. My neighbors, same. My classmates, same.
None of us lived up to the standard all the time. We fought. We hurt others.
But the hurting of others always hurts a lover of humanity deeper in their own heart. That's what I discovered as I matured, and still learning every day.
The giver gets the greater gift than the recipient.
It is fashionable in our bumper sticker mentality to stick a "COEXIST" decal on the van, or a "This home doesn't hate" sign in a front lawn. Sure. Great. How impressive to signal your virtue.
Much much harder and much much more loving to continue friendships, be kind to strangers, and maintain family ties with those who are offended by your stance on moral or political issues.
Do that work. It is rewarding in profound ways. Never give up on loving fellow human beings. If you are hated in return, let it roll off your back. Try again modesty and humility.
When spat in her face for asking alms for the poor of Calcutta, Saint Mother Teresa said to the man, "That was for me. Now what do you have for God?"
If a little physically frail woman of no monetary means can do that on the overcrowded banks of the polluted Ganges, we can too. Move on from bitterness. Forgive. Forget the sting of hate. Love them instead. It will lift you up.
And yet hold onto your convictions. The two can "coexist". I do it every day in my own insignificant and small ways on this Earth we share. And I am far from a saint.
