Dear one,
At work I am known by a quote I wrote, that “human connection is harm reduction”, but human connection without love isn’t really connection at all, it’s just proximity. People who are incarcerated are connected to dozens, sometimes hundreds of others on a daily basis, but they probably aren’t surrounded by love. Human connection without love is why we can be in a room full of people and still feel utterly and completely alone.
I’m asked to talk about love a lot. How can I possibly love everyone? Surely not everyone is worthy of love. There must be limits, right? No, I don’t believe that’s right at all. I gravitate often to the work of Trappist Monk Thomas Merton who said,
“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.”
I don’t think I’m here to judge. I don’t think I’m here to decide what you deserve. I think I’m here to love you. It’s the reason my organization is called Just Love More, because in my heart I have come to understand that love is the missing puzzle piece that makes it all make sense.
Never forget that I love you, and that excludes no one.
Love,
