Love People

Love One Another
(Or Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself)

Considering that people have come up with so many definitions of love, we must define it here too before discussing this topic. Within the context of this blog, love has two parts: 1) appreciation for the good in another person and 2) a willingness and desire to help the other person for his/her benefit, regardless of our own benefit or lack thereof.

​In this sense, love leads us to be kinder to others. It leads us to give them the benefit of the doubt. Love can inspire us to sacrifice something of our own in order to give an advantage or benefit to someone else. It leads us to refrain from condemning the person who messes up. It enables us to forgive those who hurt us at times. It helps us to see that people who do bad things are often more ignorant or weak rather than malicious or evil.

​Imagine a nation where people have this moral value instilled in them from a young age. What might it look like? How would kids treat each other on the playground? How might teenagers and parents interact? How would husbands and wives treat each other? What sorts of laws would that nation find unnecessary? How would the politicians in various government positions view the citizens? How would they work out the challenges that face the nation?

​At present this is only a hypothetical nation; our country is far from showing universal love toward one another. There are many divisions between cultures, between socioeconomic levels, between philosophies and ideals, and so on. Often the members of these divided groups can become very hostile toward one another. How our nation could use this value of love for each other to make life better for every one of us! But how can this be accomplished?

​It seems the best approach is to start with the youngest generations—our little people who haven’t already established so many self-over-others attitudes. They are innocent and ready to learn whatever their world teaches them. Their minds are blank slates onto which social norms will be written. Parents have the most direct control of this process, especially in the first few years before they enter the school system. During these formative years, parents can choose to let the child sink or swim in a world of confusing and conflicting moral and social values, or they can spend time and effort attempting to create a culture around the child that helps instill particular values, creating more intentional social norms that the child will adopt.

No matter what we do to change things, it won’t be perfect. But the better job we do as parents to instill basic moral principles in our children while they are young, the better the long-term results will be and the stronger our nation will be.