And when it doesn’t?

It’s a call more demanding than kindness or civility. Any one can be kind, and most of us are when it suits our comfort and ease.

And when it doesn’t, why?

And when it offends, coming from someone I judge as being cold or cruel, or a bad person? Certainly, the right thing to do is match their “energy”, as the kids say these days.

And no wonder our lives are fragmented with an influx of human persons entering in and out. We have not been good to one another, and the reason? We have not learned yet to love. And what it means to love - the challenge.

Love, while still holding my own.
Love, while being assertive.
Love, while being just.

Leaving the suffocating comfort of my own ego to love the one who offends me in word and deed, or the lack thereof. A bit more challenging than turning the other cheek.

That Spanish poet from Toledo wrote perfectly: “Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love.”