Why Not Love?

Why Not Love?

I’m so weary of ugliness in the public square. I’m saddened (and my soul is a little more deadened every day) by the name-calling, the nonstop accusations, and the mean-spirited words hurled, leaked, broadcast, and tweeted. And it’s not just politicians who are the problem. The meanness is trickling down to everyday discourse between ordinary folks. I witnessed the following unlovely exchange in a clothing store:

Two women were shopping with two small children in tow—one a three-year-old boy and the other a baby girl. The little boy was standing stock-still, staring at a broken bottle of perfume on the floor. As an employee was moving in to clean things up, she noticed the children’s mom had placed the baby girl on one of the store’s rolling stock carts.

The employee said, “Oh, please don’t do that—she might fall.”

The other woman said: “She is not going to let her fall.”

The employee said: “Yes, but that’s dangerous—she can’t be there.”

The other woman said more loudly (as the mom held on to the baby on the cart with one hand and the little boy wandered off on his own): “She isn’t going to fall. Her mom’s watching her.”

The employee tried again: “Yes, ma’am, but we can’t have her up there for liability reasons.”

Then, this angry retort: “You don’t care about the baby. You just don’t want to get sued. You think she can’t watch her own baby.”

When the young employee tried again to politely explain herself, the older woman cut her short: “I know what you care about . . . and I don’t want to hear anything else from you. This conversation is over.”

I can’t change the world, the toxic climate in halls of power, or the attitude of a hostile shopper. But in a world where meanness has become room temperature, I can choose love instead. Gracious responses. Acts of kindness. A caring word. Eye contact. A smile. A listening ear. These I can do. And so can you. Let’s just love.

When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.

1 John 4:17, MSG