Love Is

When the status quo is violent and dehumanizing love is the alternative. It is the force that interrupts. That says no. That stands up for dignity and decency. That stands strong in the knowing that we are all are worthy of life. We all deserve to exist free from fear. Free from contempt. Free from harm. Free from terror.

We all deserve compassion and humanity. We all deserve truth and dignity.

When the status quo is inhumane then love is a rebellion. It is a revolution. Love is a call to action. It is a reflection of our agency and our ability to show up and contribute to the life we are creating. Love is a tradition. Love is a brave and unrelenting truth.

Right now, everything feels like a fight. Humanity exists on the other side of action and agency. Love is the thing that fights. Love has always been the thing that fights. And that is good! And necessary! And true! The legacy of love as rebellion has been passed on to us, and it remains our legacy to continue so long as scarcity remains. So long as violent cycles rooted in lack and trauma have hold.


And yet, and also, and still; love is not a fight. It just is. We just are. It is who we are. In that still place underneath it all, there is no controversy. Love just is. We don’t have to earn it, or claim it, or prove it. We don’t have to convince anyone that we are worthy of it. We don’t have to wait for anyone to decide that it’s time to do things differently. We don’t have to change anyone or anything to be worthy of knowing love. To be capable of meeting love. Without the context of the status quo, love just is.

And that gets to be here too!

The quiet truth that at least within me, love lives. At least within me, there is a seed of knowing. A truth that has endured. A clarity that relies on no external forces. At least within me, I can find that still place, where there is no controversy.

Your existence does not threaten me. Your ability to live and thrive does not take from me. The beauty of your difference does not invalidate me. The love you receive leaves no less for me. The calm that you feel stirs no storms in me. The safety you know is no harm to me. The love that you meet is no loss to me.

And that gets to be here too.

And maybe some days it’s held with anxious aspiration. And maybe some days it fuels a fierceness all its own. But love will always be a compass. And when we come together, in love, it becomes a compass that directs the wind. There is nothing love can’t do. And when we lose faith, we must only look at all that love has done. Because love has brought us here. In spite of it all, love still survives. And now that we’re here, what would love do?

Let love be what fuels our rebellion, as we recall the force that love is.