Just a quick warning, what I’m about to write about is not applicable to every individual in the world. It’s merely a few thought-provoking words for you to ponder about. Perhaps it’ll act as a conversation starter, and perhaps comfort you because it’s what you’ve been thinking about.
Fear and Love are two emotions that can make or break any of us if we let it. Because love has the ability to cause us to do extreme acts, it’s bought upon fear of love.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but a lot of people fear kindness, they fear being loved. Although we all want to be loved, when we receive more than we expect or think we deserve, we subconsciously question why we’re being treated the way we are. That’s when the fear comes in, and we back away. Matt Chandler, I believe, says is perfect:
Love is sacrificial. Being sacrificial is not easy, we’re selfish human beings and when it comes to sacrificing parts of our lives for other people, we tend to weigh the pros and cons- and in the end, do the thing that hurts us the least.
What does that say about our culture and community? Have we adapted to the societal norms of broken dreams, disengaged hearts and lack of trust in humanity to show love to one another?
We watch videos upon videos on upworthy & various websites to praise those who perform an act of kindness to one another. I think this encouragement and praise is great, but perhaps some of these acts should be a part of our normal daily lives. Some of these are simple acts of helping one another, showing kindness and love.
For Valentines day this year, my friend and I stood on the streets for 2 hours giving our FREE HUGS. It was one of the most incredible moments of this year so far. Two hours of bliss happiness. The majority of the people we came across were extremely thankful, responsive and happy but there were few that didn’t care as much. Nonetheless, many of them asked us why we were giving out free hugs. Some asked as if they were waiting for us to tell them what we were expecting back from them.
There was no reason, we just wanted to do something nice- especially on valentines day where loneliness is felt the strongest. We should encourage each other to act sacrificially, act in kindness and love without expectations.
In the end, love always defeats fear.
Joanne Lam 