Let’s start with a few things:

1. I’m not Beatles bashing [in fact I love them] so shut your face with that nonsense.

2. This is NOT about the Chick-fil-A drama so please don’t blow up my comments with craziness about how I don’t support/support chicken advertised by cows. [Literally that is their ad, I'm not calling them cows, calm down]

Whew, now that I’ve got that out of the way…

Shall we?

—-

I think it’s safe to say that love truly is the most powerful thing in the world.

We live, breathe, and die for love.

Don’t think so?

Let me respectfully turn your chair around and change your perspective.

Everyone has something they love.

And it is that love that motivates them to do things.

Whether you love God, your boyfriend, Taylor Swift, or your purple hair.

You’ve got something.

But what you love is not necessarily what the person next to you loves as well.

Hence, conflict.

I enjoy the hippie mentality, but love really isn’t all we need because realistically we all love different things.

Me?

Among other things, I am a lover of love.

Gay.

Straight.

Hybrid.

What would you call a penguin/alligator baby? A pengator? Alliguin?

I even love  stuffed animal love.

While love drives me, I know that not everyone finds the concept of an Alliguin [yes, I decided that would be its name] appealing.

Likewise, I can’t seem to grasp why people love Crocs.

We are different people.

Raised and genetically programmed differently.

The other night Derek and I found ourselves dead smack in a heated Facebook debate with some guy we know nothing about because a mutual friend posted a controversial topic.

We’ll call him Andrew, because that was his name.

Around comment 55 on our friends feed, Derek and I decided enough was enough and it was clear that nobody was going to “win”.

I left the conversation, but Derek being Derek, decided to go out with a bang by being funny of course.

Upon casual Facebook stalking, he discovered that the guy we were arguing with worked at In-N-Out.

Derek said something along the lines of

“Shut up and go make me a double double”.

To which Andrew replied:

“Haha Derek, I got you! I can definitely do that for you.”

Debate over.

While I still disagree with everything Andrew said, we all found a common ground in a sense of humor and In-N-Out.

Back to my original statement:

Love is truly the most powerful thing in the world.

But as a wise man once said, “with great power comes great responsibility”.

[We miss you Uncle Ben. Just kidding. Voltaire said it first.]

Love can drive us to hate, or it can prompt us to tolerance.

It all depends on what you love most.

This goes into values and what have you, but I’m not trying to get THAT in depth.

What I would like to do is urge you to consider making people one of your top loves.

Because if people loved other people most, then we wouldn’t see half of the conflicts that we do.

I’m not telling you to put others before God, but I am telling you to put others before you, your favorite green shoes, your obsession with country music, etc.

God says to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

But God didn’t say my neighbor would be the polar opposite of me!

Nope, He didn’t.

But He told you to love them anyway.

Don’t believe in God?

That’s cool.

Believe in being a decent human being then.

We only get one shot guys.

This is it.

This is your life.

Do you want to spend it hating everything and everyone that is different than you?

Does hate fill your heart with joy?

No.

LOVE DOES.

I know it doesn’t happen overnight.

But I encourage you to at least start with tolerance.

So next time you are driving on the freeway and someone cuts you off, maybe skip the middle finger and try to remember that the person in the other car could be rushing to the hospital to see their mom before she dies.

Next time you meet someone who hates your favorite football team, cut them some slack and find something you do have in common [even if it's as simple as you both loving Tostitos Scoops because really, who doesn't?]

Make the CHOICE to love people more than HATE their beliefs, ideals, clothing choices, etc.

And I promise that the next time I see you trying on a pair of Crocs I will NOT try to talk you out of them.

Peace, love, and tolerance.

Xoxo