Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Sometimes My Love is Conditional



This past week has been thought provoking. I thought of not writing my thoughts down in the event that it will hurt some people.  I should know from reading countless articles that as a writer we can't control how people will react to the words that we write but I care.  I care a lot about a variety of people in our life. We have butted heads over LGBT issues and the current political events shared by the media.

I care so much that at times I have held my tongue.  I have turned the other cheek.  I have accepted their opinion and moved forward.  Then there are times like now.  That I can't stand to read one more post by someone whose opinion is so far away from mine that it hurts.  Their ideas and opinions stir up emotion and anger deep within me.  My mind will ask my heart "what the fuck is wrong with people?"  How can they be so heartless, cruel, and inhumane? They lose their status as a human and become animalistic.  I don't see them through a "friend or family" lens anymore.  I see them with caution, unease and disappointment. Social media has allowed us to witness a persons character, views, opinions and supportive nature with the hit of a like button.  We see so much more than we might to.  Honestly, I don't want to see it anymore.  It's too much.  It is changing my view of some good people.

I have thought for sometime about writing about this topic of unconditional love and how I don't believe it exist for most of our lives. I have to admit to myself that my love is conditional.  I believe my love, has been unconditional, a few times though.  At the meeting of each of our four kids.  That small window of time when they first entered this world.  So much love spilling from your soul that you can't imagine anything other than that moment.  You don't see the trials or struggles that you may have in the future.  Your mind isn't privy to their character, their desires, thoughts, ideas, emotions, or cares.

That newness of meeting and seeing each other with nothing but pure joy and happiness is unconditional love to me.  After this initial exchange our relationship starts to grow.  We start to evolve and our lives are subjected to the world.  We are influenced and sculpted into what our parents and society deem to be in our best interest.  We start to learn that love is conditional.

I learned as a child that holding on to the belief that love is unconditional hurt. A child trusts with their whole heart until they learn not to.  That trust and love did not always end with a feeling of acceptance, joy, friendship or togetherness.  I found myself in situations of being abused and hurt by people, who I thought should love me unconditionally, love me enough to not hurt me, but they did hurt me: emotionally and physically.  As an adult I found this idea of unconditional love poisonous when spewed by the wrong person in the name of their justified cause or reasoning.

Isn't love LOVE?

I have to admit to myself that it is not.  Love can be ugly.  Ask the abused wife or husband.  Love can hurt.  Ask the crying child, the gay child, the bullied kid. Love can deny.  Ask your gay neighbor.  Love can sting.  Ask yourself.

Love is conditional.

Love has two sides.  We do things in the name of love all the time.

I will love you if...
My love is wide and open but...
You are wanted and excepted when...

Love from our parents, siblings, extended family, communities or church comes with conditions.  We know how we feel when love is shared with us but then we realize that not all love is the same.  We receive and give love differently too. Putting my understanding of love under a microscope this past week has been interesting.

I know love is good.  I don't deny it. I've been on the receiving end of love that hurts and love that feels good.  I am learning that I give and receive love differently.  This is why this week I have acknowledge to myself that my love is conditional. I cannot pretend that my love is the same for everyone, every situation, or that it is unconditional. It simply is not.

What I do deny is that love is always the right venue to try to make your point.  Love is not one size fits all.  We don't all respond to the word love equally.  To some the word hurts.  To others it resonates joy and happiness.  I think the most powerful influence we can have in regards to love is to think first of the other person.

My love is conditional.  It's my truth.   Maybe this is the stinging nettle of love.  I am learning that a blanket of "love" thrown in the hopes that it covers all the hurt, opinions and pain can makes you itch with frustration from a word that emotes a variety of feelings. This word creates a dichotomy of opinions and reactions.

There is a lot of hurt and anger in the world currently and with so much pain I see myself going back to a basic principles of peace, charity and mercy: love.  I don't want to focus on the fear that terror and policy changes are creating.  For me, to better understand this love, I have had to tear it apart and get real and raw.

I am trying to not have conditions on my love but it's hard.  This week my conditional love has been tested. I struggle because I was raised to believe that love is unconditional and yet my heart says that it is not.







2 comments:

  1. Sherron, you are not alone in this world. Your words speak so many truths about how we love, how we feel it, perceive it and show it. You seem very empathetic of others, which leads to feeling the joys and the pains of love more deeply than others. One of your sentences jumped out, early on: "I see them with caution, unease and disappointment." It caused me to stop and reflect on family and friends who have taken advantage of empathetic souls, who only love us conditionally, in the context of how the relationship best benefits them. I believe I can hold unconditional love in my heart, but I can only give that love to those who are willing to accept it, in whatever form. Even when the form is not to their liking. If they will not accept it, than I must stop providing only what they desire. Unconditional love may be limitless, but the physical, mental and emotional energy to show it is not.

    Thank you for sharing this window into your world. I look forward to reading more.

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    1. Thank you for your comment Michael. I really enjoy your perspective and kind words. Love is multi-faceted and our action and reaction are dictated by so many factors. Again, thank you for sharing. Have a great day.

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