We Can Do Better

Saturday, June 06, 2009
This weekend, bloggers all over the world are coming together in the name of tolerance. Enough hatred, disrespect, name-calling, racism and killing. Here's hoping that the 21st century will be much less hateful than the 20th ever was.

I've done a lot of thinking about this, and I think there are really only two forces in the world: love and fear. Every negative thing can be traced back to fear, and every positive thing can be traced back to love.

What is greed? The fear of not having enough. What is hatred? The fear of "the other." Fear shuts you down. It closes you in. It separates you from others.

What is friendship? It's the love of a person who is special to you. What is fun? Ultimately, I think it is happy times shared with others whom you love. Great music, great art, great literature... they are all created by people who want to express their love through their own gifts. Love is expansive. It connects you to others and to the earth. Even science can be employed in the service of love by people who want to make a difference.

Lately, I have been focusing on the idea that good things are abundantly available. Just having that mindset helps you to see the good things that are around you all the time. You can get through the bad stuff by focusing on and appreciating what's good.

I've heard it said that the opposite of love is not hate. It is fear. For a different perspective on this, I found a quote from Plan Be, "The opposite of love is hate; but the obstacle to love is fear."

Thank you, Leon, for challenging me to write this post.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post, Andrea. I'm glad I could inspire you a bit, although I think you give me too much credit. :)

A great quote I love from the musical Rent (although it may not have originated there) is:

"The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation!"

Larry Kollar said...

Good one!

Did you ever read Dune, the original? "I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer."

Science can be the love of discovery, or of simply learning, as well…

Catwoman said...

I actually did read Dune, but it was so many years ago! That may be where I first got the idea. Thanks for the reminder!