There’s a weariness to my soul today. It’s a weariness that matches the state of the world. I’m not exactly sure what’s happening right now but I do know that it’s bigger than the actions of those around us or the fear and anger we’re constantly being berated with on a daily basis.
I don’t have the perfect words to describe what I’m feeling… sensing. It just feels big. Every direction I turn, there is pain and hurt – typically manifested as fear and anger. As a society, we have taken a stance, but have often belittled its importance. We have chosen anger and hatred as our main forms of expression. We think that this is the strong and righteous way to respond when really all we’re doing is adding more hurt, pain, fear, and hatred to this world. It breaks my heart. Real strength doesn’t come from belittling or making someone else less, it comes from the breadth of love a person can muster. Real strength comes in the form of undeserved compassion and forgiveness, especially when they aren’t asked for.
There is not a lot I am certain of in this life, but one thing I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt is that love is the ONLY answer.
I know that there are a lot of people who might disagree with me on that… and that’s okay. We have been conditioned to think that showing softness and kindness equals weakness. We have been taught as a society, that showing compassion when it isn’t deserved will somehow make us less. We have come to believe, through media and our day to day interactions, that being ready to mount a defense of cruelty and anger makes us less vulnerable to the hurts of this world. This just isn’t true.
To anyone who believes that showing love and grace is weakness, I would implore you to react only in kindness the next time someone throws anger your way. It undoubtedly takes far greater strength to show compassion to that person than it does to respond in an equally cruel way. Anger and fear are easily contagious. They’re two of the most readily absorbed emotions. We see this everywhere in our world right now. In my lifetime, I have never seen so much casual cruelty. We have defaulted to assuming the worst of one another. We show so little grace that we have removed the possibility of change… and if we don’t allow one another to change, then how can we expect anything more than furthered hurt and hatred?
In this current world, it can often feel hopeless. I think we all can sense it. We can ignore it at times, but there is always something that brings it back into our sphere. Every direction we look, anger is waiting, grasping at the chance to spread like the disease that it is. Trying to fight it can feel futile at times… but I have seen the power of love to change even the most impossible circumstance. It is in fact the only thing that does. If we want lasting change – true healing, then love is the only answer.
We can’t stop the person who screams hatred in our faces, but we can take that hatred, wrap it in love, and hand it back to them knowing it was never ours to hold. We will not take the bait. We get to decide what energy we will walk in. We get to decide what energy we hand to others. The pain that most people carry on a daily basis is often far more than they are already capable of holding. Will we add to it? Or will we lighten it?
I know this can all sound idealistic, but I have seen love’s power with my own two eyes. The biggest shifts I have experienced in my life have come from the most challenging moments of opportunity. When standing toe to toe with hatred, I have chosen love – not always, and not as often as I would have liked. Still, I have tasted the profound change brought to life only by love. More than that, it has allowed me to see others with a new paradigm. I have been able to see the deep hurt that an individual must shoulder in order to carry that kind of hatred. To be that disconnected from one’s true self is excruciating… even if we aren’t always aware of our own pain.
The good news is that we’re not helpless to this moment in time. We can be broken-hearted. We can feel anger and we can experience hurt, but we cannot hold these inside. We cannot add to the hatred and fear trying to take over right now. We MUST choose love, even and especially when it feels hardest. That is our only hope for healing, not only this shattered world, but also ourselves.
Though I often feel this begrudgingly, I KNOW that love is the only answer… and when given freely, without condition, its power is far greater than any of its opposites.
Choose love. Give it openly and undeservingly. Offer it to anyone and everyone. Let love be the greatest legacy of your life.
Let love in, give love out, and let’s watch everything change before our very eyes.
Let love…
To heal is to touch with love that which was previously touched by fear. – Stephen Levine