Love: The Quintessential All-Purpose Resolvent

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo by Tim Swaan on Unsplash

As I am sure all of you know, we are living in a very bleak time that has cast a shadow of dismay, injustice, anger, and a multitude of other emotions to push many people to the brink of sanity.  There are seemingly numerous accounts on the news about the public's retaliation to the most recent fatality of George Floyd, an African American man who suffocated to death at the knee of a police officer.  The increase in the death toll from the Coronavirus across the globe has upped the stressful temperature of our globe, along with the riots, looting, arson, and other misdeeds that have rapidly birthed specifically within the United States.  As opposing and differing views clash in our political platforms and the fallout rains down amongst the masses, it can appear that remaining composed during the chaos and fierce turmoil is an impossibility.  While I peruse the current pandemonium, I can't help but notice that injustice is always conceived from a sense of hatred; whether it be money-driven power lusts, racism, jealousy, (etc), love is always lacking.  I know that this might sound cliché, but I would argue that the solution to eradicating this constant cycle of hatred and reducing the risk of harm to each other is for the collective self-preservation through love.  If we all consciously make that crucial decision to recognize, respect, and love one another genuinely; we can travel that bridge together towards a better tomorrow not derailed by hatred or power-hungry immorality. 

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While emotions tensely run high and social distancing is starting to “get old”, acts of aggression in response to the continuous disregard for Black human life and dignity in the United States, has arisen in multiple forms from peaceful protests to the burning down of buildings.  The dark historical relevance of America’s extremely abusive relationship with African Americans plays a major role in the emotional build-up for many that screams: “Enough is enough!”  Despite the protests that have taken place in the wake of tragic events against multiple black men and women; the hatred, murder, and violence do not cease and almost appears to sneer in the faces of people of color.  In my humble opinion, I believe that human beings' inherent desire to rule over each other at any means possible due to the age-old thirst for what they deem to be as "power", can and will continue to propel hatred and racism through our societies.  Often times I see people believing that if we have opportunities to discuss ways of solving this problem through civil discourse, then progress can be made to dissolve this issue of racism and hatred.  Throughout history, there have been multiple leaders who have arisen to combat the injustices done to African Americans, as seen in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass (etc).  Despite the progress and long-lasting effects that have been positively made in the United States social hemisphere, through attaining rights to vote, workers unions, and embedding the idealized vision of a non-discriminatory future (MLK's "I Have A Dream..."); the cheapening and devaluation of black life remains arrogantly unshaken (e.g. Trayvon Martin, Rodney King, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown).

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Winners and Losers of Julius Caesar's Gallic War Battles

The bridge to peace that is free of hatred and injustice is through love.  Until people's hearts are transformed from one of hatred to one of love, there will continuously be acts of blatant injustice done towards each other.  This is not meant to sound like a "kumbaya" call or a fictional "sunshine and rainbows" fantasy.  I am simply pointing out that the problems we face exteriorly in society are solvable if we honestly analyze and test our interiority on moral grounds.  For centuries, the subtextual evidence in the interactions amongst human beings has been solely based upon the attainment of "power".  The common belief that "real power" is attributed to monetary and tangible amalgamation, has robbed us of our empathy, misconstrued what's left of our moral compass, tarnished our respect for decency, and desensitized us to the preciousness of human life.  In the retrieval of this power, there is always a winner and a loser.  The incessant rat race to "be on top" in this pyramid of succession has resulted in numerous casualties as seen in ancient wars that were simply fought with a fixation upon land expansion and "ambitious" conquest.  Once these civilizations were forced to surrender, their societies were then obligated to assimilate to their new overlords' culture and governing system.  Typically, these people were considered to be the lowest on the totem pole of this new society and treated as such with forms of injustice and contempt.  As these balances of power continued to change due to the defeat and overthrow of multiple regimes, many people's lives slipped through the cracks at the hands of those who were supposed to maintain the peace by "protecting and serving".  In the ancient Roman Empire, it was common for one of the subjugated peoples to be extracted at random and implemented into the renowned Gladiator games that took place in the historically popular Colosseum.  This "throwing of weight" due to the hierarchical system of oppression by "those in power", by subjugating people and labeling them as inferior through forms of racism, classism, police brutality, mass incarceration, implications in media/entertainment and other means, has been around for centuries and does not have an ounce of love in its' composition.  The "power-complex" stems from the narcissistic desire to rule over others and assume an arrogant elevated status of self-gratification that is typically violently enforced upon people.  The severe imperfection in this mentality is that this unhealthy extreme self-absorption results in a system that is plagued with racism and hatred no matter the era.

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Regardless of the rise and fall in "power", there is one constant that remains to be unspoken for in my opinion: the human heart.  When I say "heart" I am referring to our mindsets, moral perspectives, and character.  Once people's hearts change from one of hatred/power-obsession to one of love/respect of the person, then that bridge that crosses over to "true change" can honestly be built.  That's a very safe statement to make despite it being true.  I mean, it is very easy to say "Everybody needs to just love each other so we can all get along", which is a broad truthful generalization to make.  This probably is not the first time that you've heard this belief before, however; this might be your first hearing of an in-depth analysis of why and how when love is applied it can truly transform people.  

Firstly, there must be a recognition that people are fallible as well as stubborn which can add to the staunch refusal of introspectively examining themselves and desiring to change.  Dispelling people's inherent engrained nature to understanding that nobody is indeed perfect, points to why love is patient.  Patience is a virtue that requires discipline and the ability to administer restraint during those times of vexation.  Being self-aware enough to be even-tempered and keeping your goal(s) in your foresight can sometimes feel mentally strenuous considering the hard work it takes to maintain self-control, especially if it is not natural to you.  

Secondly, by truly viewing the world through love there has to be an uncontaminated recognization that, love is kind.  Being considerate of others is crucial to how we interact with others daily which can improve our outlook(s) on life in general.  The individual proactive decision to make the choice to counteract hatred through love by applying kindness into our daily regimen of fraternization can positively affect our masses, and didactically reshape our world's internally broken psychological make-up. Our actions being dictated through the implementation of kindness can ameliorate societies into ones that are functioning genuinely out of the well-being of its citizens, instead of destroying its people(s) due to race, class, (etc).  

Thirdly, love does not dishonor others and is not self-seeking.  It appears that many injustices in societies, when broken down, are due to a lack of respect for others which oftentimes stems from a selfish self-absorbed desire to have dominion over the populace.  The acts of authentic honor and respect can change the mold of an internally decaying society, that finds ways to oppress its citizens through mass incarceration and police brutality, to one of civility without opportunistic motives.  Respect of person(s) is simply a social grace of common decency that is out of love, considering that the acknowledgment of another person's life and self-worth is no less important than that of your own.  And you and your life are precious and exceptionally important, to say the least.

Photo Taken by César Couto on Unsplash

My coming to the conclusion that love is that bridge to a "better tomorrow" is due to recognizing that the continuation down this road of hatred and "power" obsession can only lead to the imploding of disillusioned societies. However, amid the turmoil, there is hope. We have time. That time is the present. And in order to best utilize this short time that we are given, I believe that we as human beings need to learn how to truly love each other authentically without dishonorable intentions.  From love, we will learn respect. We will understand the value of every human life. We will be able to defeat hatred, racism, classism, and all the other predicaments we've thrust ourselves into. But this cannot occur unless we make the conscious decision and deliberate choice to walk across the bridge towards a brighter day, with love as our source.

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

- William Shakespeare