For as long as I can remember, finding “the one” seemed to be the focus when it came to learning about love. Determining the kind of person we may want to be with, their personality, their gender, is a consideration we hold onto from the time of our youth. As we age, we start flirting and dating, and later marrying, possibly. And then a lot of us who do marry, find ourselves facing divorce or maybe even wondering why we considered marriage in the first place. For many of us who are still single, we continue the search, fearing being alone, maybe even wondering, “what is wrong with me?”
And, after disappointments, we are left feeling disillusioned about love and its role in our lives, especially in how we treat others. And in how we allow ourselves to be treated. It’s as if love no longer has a place in our hearts. We are seemingly together, until we’re not. We desperately love each other, until we decide to break up. If one or the other of us gets emotionally hurt, then we consider it’s time to grow up and we flippantly decide that love is an idealistic perspective that doesn’t really exist. Thinking about it further, it can be hard to love someone based on a list we contrived once upon a sunny day when we were young and unknowing about many things… such as, who we are as a person.
When we consider what we have been experiencing over the last several years: death and loss due to COVID or other sickness, drug addiction, gun violence; hateful spewing over social media or in-person to people we may or may not know because of disagreements over things like politics, religion, sexual orientation, or anything else that leads to angst, we are left to wonder just where love fits in to all of these hurtful feelings we are experiencing, and realizing we are not that same person as before. It’s as if suddenly, we are standing at a line in the sand, and now we have to decide which side we want to be on— where deciding is not as cut and dry as it used to be.
It’s true, we each have differences in personal opinions and it’s as if our individual stance is more golden than any other, and there seems to be an unwritten requirement to defend our line and die upon the sword, so to speak, if only to get an opinionated point across. All of which has lead to broken relationships with family and/or dear friends. And, as a once united society, we are now divided! Worse, for those who have had loved ones pass away, we are left with feelings that are often difficult to reconcile mostly because we leave words that may bring peace unsaid. And I think to myself, what a terrible way to die — angry, bitter, sad, unredeemed, unquenched, unreconciled. What a terrible way to live!
It is clear there is an urgency to change our consideration about love — what it really means, why it’s important to our personal well-being, and why it’s important to maintain. Love is not sex. It’s not marriage. But love does make marriage and sex an intimate moment that is cherished with that special someone, and it feels amazing, though sex and marriage is not love in and of itself. Rather, love is the basis to all we are as human beings. And that is perhaps the most important part of the conversation that is seemingly missed; when we choose to be kind, compassionate, and/or understanding, we are choosing to love one another.
So, what if we decide to change the conversation when teaching love to our children? What if instead of trying to teach our children that love is trying to find the type of person to date, we teach our children how to be loving individuals by being kind to those who are different socially, economically, mentally, spiritually, and culturally. What if we taught patience as an act of love? And how celebrating another’s success or happiness is not something that makes our success or happiness any less important — where there is no value in judging another for a choice a person makes based on their circumstance, instead, we show how compassion can help another overcome their moment of weakness. And, not just teach our children this new way of thinking about love, but we teach ourselves in the same accord?
When we love each other, we grow. We become strong together, and resilient. Love is what stems from our big juicy heart when we interact with others, and is a hallmark, if not the hallmark, to all that we are as a beautiful person. The love we choose to give is evident in the way we treat our family, our friends. Mostly, it’s in the way we treat a stranger, or someone whose lifestyle or religiosity is different than our own.
This is the heart of corner of peace+love. We believe that with love comes peace. And when we meet together at the corner where love and peace intersect, all that stands between us is two hearts ready to connect. There is no color, no religion, no politics, no gender or sexual orientation, no differences to get in the way —
At our corner, we believe treating people kindly, with the drum of our heart beating rhythms of love, strengthens individuals, unites families, builds relationships, and ultimately, creates healthy, prosperous, and united communities. Living where the commonality of a people, despite the differences in our personal beliefs, without judgement, creates a peaceful environment. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
When we independently decide to remove the debilitating labels we use to define us, the labels choking us out, like liberal, conservative, christian, or not; our true heart begins to show. We get to feel, and give, love. And because there is nothing to segment us into categories defined and categorized using a self-adhered label, we can breathe in the clean air of love.
If we can choose to love one and another, imagine the peace that will emanate freely when we meet each other.
Isn’t it time?
There has been so much discord in our lives in the last decade or two that it seems we have forgotten our common ground. Together, we can change the tone. We can get back to loving our neighbors as ourselves, and treating each other with the respect we deserve as human beings. All it will take is a choice… we need to choose love as our guiding principle.
The tees we design and sell embody this sentiment. And each time you pull one over your shoulders, you represent this change we aim to make together. Together we can inspire peace, one kind word at a time.
Join me.
Let’s meet at the corner —
the corner of peace+love
Love,
Rachel