Unconditional love?

Humans struggle to love each other unconditionally. It isn’t in our nature. (Actually, what’s unusual is how much we love people.)

It’s easy to love something small like a baby. But once someone has hurt us it is difficult to give them the benefit of the doubt. Deep down many of us struggle to accept that someone is doing the best they can.

How can we love people unconditionally with all the atrocity? History is riddled with horrible things. The world is full of it.

How then do you believe we can do better with the track record we have left behind?

Difficult question. This is why when Jesus said to turn the other cheek or when Gandhi led a nonviolent resistance or when MLK Jr. says “I have a dream…” or when Mandela was locked away for 27 years we listen. We listen because we are amazed at the level of forgiveness one can dig to heal wounds.

Bridges are not built with engineers. They are built with visionaries who cared about the peace that comes when the violence ends more than the hurt they felt. And not just the people that occupy the earth but the ones who will inherit it.