Love Is: A Moment with Bill Reflection

Anyone who has spent any time following my writings knows how much I detest the following two words…..”love ya.”

What is that? Is that some clever little toss-away to let someone know you acknowledge their existence? Is that something someone in a hurry says to someone so they won’t feel insulted? Is that something like “like ya” or “I don’t hate ya?”

It could be all those things and more, but to me, it is essentially a bastardization of the three most important words one human being can say to another….I love you!

And those three words should never be diminished.

If love is not the most important thing in the world then please tell me what is. Is it money? Is it an accumulation of possessions? Is it power or greed or fame? Please, tell me now, because I want to sign up for that cruise ship as soon as possible.

However, if love is the most important thing in life, then why do we blithely toss those words about as if they have no meaning?

Love ya, man!

Love ya, babe!

Love y’all!

I know there are some reading this article who are asking, “what’s the big deal?” It’s just a saying. Quit sweating the small stuff, man!

And to those people I would say that love is never small stuff. If you love someone then look them in the eye and say the words. Look them in the eye and be the words. Show it….model it….live it….love, baby, love!

Love is my friend Lizzy giving birth to her new daughter, Aspen Elizabeth. I was not there when Aspen was born on 4/7/14, but I know without a doubt that Lizzy looked in Aspen’s eyes and told her “I love you,” and those same words will be said daily for the rest of their lives together.

Love is my father and mother taking a chance on a blind, nine-month old child at Catholic Community Services back in 1948, and adopting that child and giving him all the love he could ever hope for. Every day for twenty years my father told me he loved me, and every day for fifty-five years my mother said those same words, and they showed their love in a thousand different ways….and….they taught their son how to love through their gift of love.

Love is a soldier laying down his life to save others. It is a fireman rushing into a burning building to save others. It is digging through mud and debris after a catastrophe in hopes of finding survivors.

Love is making the day in, day out sacrifices necessary to provide for your family. The father who works twelve hours per day, five and six days per week, fifty-two weeks per year, so his children will have a chance at a better life…that is love. The mother who cleans clothes, cleans house, mends scrapes and kisses bruises, giving up her dreams so that her children will have their dreams…that is love.

Love is neighbor helping neighbor, without expectations, simply because it is the right thing to do. Love is giving when you have nothing to spare, and doing so with a smile. Love is providing comfort to the dying, and love is extending dignity to the aged.

And love is my wife, Bev, looking into my eyes and without words assuring me that everything will be all right.

You see, it really is much more than “love ya.”

I admit it right here, right now….I was a sucker for the old television show “The Waltons.” Every week I would tune in. Every week I would watch the show. Every week I would say, “Who the hell lives like that?” and every week I would say, “Damn that’s cool.”

Maybe it is because my grandparents held their family together during the Great Depression, and I understand the sacrifices that were made during those times. But I suspect it is more than that. I suspect that I love that show so much because the central theme was, is, and always will be love.

I’m a sucker for love!

I have written often about the deplorable state of our world in the year 2014. There is so much hate. There is so much fear. There is so much distrust and apathy, and there are days I want to throw up my hands and scream in frustration because dammit, we desperately need each other.

But screaming will do no good. All I can do is what I can do, but I am capable of doing a great deal.

I must be the instrument of love.

Through my daily actions I must be the personification of love.

Through my written words I must be the instructor of love.

If I believe that the world needs more love then it is my job to provide it.

Period!

Will you join me?

Please!

I need you….and…..

You need me.

Help me to spread love.

Help me to make love meaningful again.

I love you…..say it….I love you.

Look in my eyes and say those words, and I will look into yours and repeat those words, and then we will move to the next person, and the next…..

I love you!

2014 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)