Love Will

While I was driving home from Blend Six this morning – Blend Six is the local cafe where I have my morning brew or two – the most incredible realisation came over me.

Love is the greatest leveler.

Now I can, at times, be a slightly aggressive driver. Not exactly a road rager, but occasionally I drive too fast and, (God forbid) a little unsafely. Yet while driving home from the cafe, hopped up on a short black and a flat white, I was as cool, calm and collected as can be. I was letting people in, taking my time around corners and even enjoying the steady motion of the car. I was about as ‘zen’ as I ever get while driving.

The reason, I realised, that I was so calm, is that I am feeling so much love right now.

It was my eldest son Billy’s 3rd birthday yesterday, and my parents have driven into town, from their home in the country, with my niece (and Billy’s best friend and cousin), Eliza.

To watch Billy, Banjo – my youngest son – and Eliza greet each other with such honest and pure love and excitement yesterday, and play together every waking moment, fills me with joy and love. To have my parents with us at Billy’s birthday party today, and my wives parents too, fills me with joy and love.

It feels as if I have been wrapped up in this dense, warm, incredibly comfortable cocoon of love. Love for my children, my wife, my parents, my niece, my in laws. Hell I was even loving my baristas this morning and I’ve only known them for 3 weeks.

And the result of all this love? I’m about as level headed, as clear thinking, as content and at peace as I have known in my short time on this world.

It makes me sad to think of all the pain and suffering that human beings inflict on each other. Both at the present time and in the past. There is and has been so much senseless violence, heartache and misery in this world it beggars belief.

And when I think on those people that are often, (not always) behind said pain and suffering, they will almost always lack love in their lives. They will have come from an abusive family, a damaged relationship, a difficult past or a terrible present. And they project their own inner turmoil  through horrible actions that inflict terrible consequences on those around them. At worst, on the whole world.

Now I’m not going to list current and past atrocities, we all know of them and me harping on about them isn’t going to change anything.

But love will. LOVE WILL.

So when you’re next railing at the world, at some terrible dictator, at an atrocity that just makes you so MAD you could scream.

Try love.

As hard as this sounds, and as hard – near impossible in fact – as it is, try love.

Try to empathise with those who are responsible for those atrocities. Think of what may have happened to them to give them recourse to such an indefensible series of actions. What hatred, what despicable deeds, what torture have they experienced in their past to make them do this?

Then love them.

Tell others who rail against them that you love them. Just as you love your friends, and your family, and your children, and the whole human race.

Because if you don’t nothing will ever get better.

Nothing will change.

Nothing.

But love will change things.

Love will make things better.

LOVE WILL.