By Jane Bauer
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
Mahatma Gandhi
What is love? This is something that humans have been asking for years. We seem torn as to whether to hold it up as the highest of emotions or as a frivolous undertaking.
Is ‘love’ what is depicted by grand gestures and romantic films? Or is it something that builds over time by the routine and comfort of a long marriage? If love is everything, why do we hesitate to accept it as a justifiable reason for turning your life upside down?
What if romantic love isn’t ‘the thing’ we are meant to aspire to, and we have gotten it wrong from too much Jane Austen and John Hughes? Romantic love as we know it only began to appear to be named in the 1500s- prior to that, relationships were mainly transactional for survival and to expand one’s wealth.
I recently started following an IG account about a German farmer who cuddles his chickens, goats, cows and sheep to a soundtrack of new age and classical tunes. It is very soothing- I can feel my nervous system relaxing as the animals nuzzle into him. What if love is what you transmit to each being you come into contact with? If that is the case what does your love look like?
Does it spread out freely in smiles to the person helping you in a store or bringing you coffee or cutting you off in traffic? The best advice I have gotten for getting annoyed with strangers has been to move through the world with the assumption that everyone is doing so with good intention. This has saved me countless grumpy moments.
If you are a regular reader you already know about my concern for the migrants that are crossing our paths. This morning there were about a hundred people of all ages and shades of skin. I rode past in the comfort of my car, on my way to a job I love and the very least I could do was allow love to flow out of me, to offer a water, to make eye contact. We often exchange ‘que dios te bendiga’ which I love, even though I don’t consider myself religious. Lately a few have responded with ‘te lo pago’ with their hands in prayer, this means they will pay it forward and my heart swells with gratitude at the love that can spread from acts of kindness.
Maybe love isn’t that complex. Perhaps it is as simple as seeing another and knowing there are no others.
See you next month,
Jane
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