Even Better

When I am face to face with a blank page, I am challenged to write something profound.

I rarely come through.

I get wound up in myself, or the world, or other selfish and negative things.

Ideally, when I am feeling sensitive and wide open, I want to write about emotions. Specifically, love, which is the stuff of life.

It's complicated. Love is not one thing. And it is expressed in so many different ways, and the way it is received varies depending on the perceptions of the receiver; affected by moods, and circumstance, and opinions - of the self and the giver.

I think the hug is powerful. I am not talking about hugs superficially given - everybody hugs today in every situation, so the gesture is cheapened. I'm talking about hugs filled with gratitude or honest love or warmth. Hugs inspired by genuine emotion. Hugs between two vulnerable humans that express wordlessly what need not be said.

There are those who pretend not to need love, or who see the open expression of love as weak. They are bitter people. Because love is a universal need. Everybody wants to be loved. Everybody wants to be accepted as they are.

Older couples, couples who accept each other and cherish the relationship, people who have fought the good fight, these are the ones who set the example. They don't need constant conversation, they don't have to agree on every topic, they just have to be. Together, in comfortable silence or grateful laughter. Celebrated with an occasional hug in the kitchen.

People who show no love, who act as if they don't need it, are broken. Something has so twisted them that they are incapable of simply being human. Because love is the essence of humanity. In a just world, love would be enough.

Unfortunately, that day will never come.

I would like to write about love in a way that touches people. In a way that makes people think, maybe nod their heads, and hopefully set them to thinking. And appreciating. Soften them up a little bit.

I'd like to write something like that.

I'm just not sure I am capable.