Blog 6

I got to say that love is such a difficult topic to talk about because it is so complex and everyone desires it.  In the beginning of the chapter of the Corey and Corey (2008) text, they talk about how everyone looks for love in their lives.  They also go on to say that we need love to survive in life.  We need to care for others as well as be cared for by others.  What is a life without love and compassion? If you didn’t have those things would there be meaning in your life?  I, for one, am searching for love every day.  I love my family and friends and I believe that they love me back.  I have not found a significant other but I hope to find her soon.  There is something different about love that makes everything worthwhile.  Love is risky.  You can put your heart out there and hopefully someone will accept it.  But I think that it is true that you need to have some sort of love for oneself before you can love others.  When thinking about love and unconditional love I think about God and how he loves me.  I also think of the Bible verse where it describes love as “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (Holy Bible, 1995, p 1204).  I know that someone will always love me.  The authentic love that is described in the Corey and Corey text (2008) is exactly how God loves me.  There is no doubt about it.  Love then spills over into the compassion part of human live. 

In the Keltner (2004) article, he describes that humans exhibit compassion with our everyday communication.  I for one think that is awesome but I also believe that God created us that way.  If we didn’t have compassion for others, what would this world look like?  It already has a lot of suffering in it.  I feel that the love and compassion that people share for life is what keeps us going.  The hope to find someone who will care about us is important to all of us.  Compassion is in our everyday lives because we need to take care of one another on this planet.  Love and compassion are extraordinary things that are complex but are needed in our everyday lives to survive and to feel meaning.  If I were working with students about love, I would work on having them love themselves and teaching them about themselves before they can love others because I think that it is important to let students know that they themselves are important.

(1995). Holy bible: Contemporary English version. New York, NY: American Bible Society.

Corey, G., & Corey, M.S. (2008). I never knew I had a choice: Explorations in personal growth. (9^th ed.). Belmont, California: Thompson Brooks/Cole.

Keltner, D. (2004). The compassionate instinct. Greater Good, 6-9.