On Love

I read an article the other day that quoted the actor Alec Baldwin as saying, “love is an over used word.”

I think he is wrong.

I don’t think the word “love” is overused at all. In fact, I don’t think the sentiment of love is used or felt enough. I think we have become so inured to using the word “hate” that “love” seems odd and unfamiliar and fake. In a world where we can say the word “hate” with such ease, whether about things, ideas, ourselves, other people, and even life itself, why can we not also use the word “love” with just as much ease?

We have allowed “hate” and the negativity that comes with it to become the attitude that is trusted and believed. “Love” and the positivity that comes with it is now deemed as suspect and naïve. That is too cynical and destructive for me. I prefer to raise hearts than to raze spirits. I prefer the overused proclamations of love to the overstated messages of hate.