Love thy Neighbor
“Everybody Hates Mitch McConnell.”
Recently, this headline was splashed across the front of The Wall Street Journal—one of the most prominent newspapers in the world. The headline went right under my skin. Don’t get me wrong it is not because I’m a huge Mitch McConnell fan, it’s because I just cannot put up with the language of hate, for anyone, from anyone, anymore!
I am not a religious scholar but in all I have read most world religions or moral guidances, speak of loving fellow human beings. It is in the Torah, the Bible, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Tipitaka. Why if we are called to love, are we so quick to hate?
I suspect it is because we practice hate more. We speak of our enemies and our foes more than our friends and neighbors. We rant about pains and problems, terrible coworkers or bosses, more than celebrate growth and joy, hope and improvement. It has become second nature to hate rather than to love.
If love is the goal then we must exercise our love for others every day in every way. It is the only way it will get stronger. It must become our habit to love others.
I have been building up my hate muscles for 54 years. It is not likely I will replace my habits of hate, descension, disagreement or just being generally disagreeable overnight. A habit of love will take time to develop.
To become a professional, science tells us we need to spend 10,000 hours doing an activity and doing it correctly. That means we will need to spend 10,000 hours loving one another to become professional lovers. We better start soon!
Loving others is about more than just politics or international boundaries. It is not only about romance and organized religion (far be it for organized religion to teach us to love. It does not have a great track record, I am sorry to say). It is about becoming better colleagues and global citizens. It is about an owner’s love for their employee, a manager’s love for those they supervise, and an employee’s love for their fellow co-laborers. There is ample opportunity for everyone to love.
I am a recovering hater! There I have said it. I will now have to work tirelessly to become an individual who loves my neighbor. Will you join me in this arduous trek?
“How will you practice love in your workplace this week?”
