"Tell me whom you love and I will tell you what you are" (Arsene Houssaye). This thought intrigues me. It sounds like it comes from a mystic or a prophet or a charlatan. How do we know who someone else really is? Back in the day, when I was single, this was the biggest question in life for me. How do I get to know who someone else really is. How much of life is a charade and what parts are real? I would have loved to have had a crystal ball to see into the heart and minds of those around me.
Tweek one word and the quote becomes easier to believe - "tell me what you love" and it's easier to figure you out. But how many of us really know what it is that we love? And what about the "who's" in our lives. We're supposed to love our families, and anyone who doesn't top the list with their closest kin goes on the list of suspicious people. Then there are those who put the right people on the top of the list, but don't act accordingly.
The story of the Good Samaritan seems like a good placed to start in examining this philosophy. The Samaritan showed love for a stranger, but not just any stranger - a stranger whom he had been taught to despise. In reality, an enemy who needed help. And the Samarian helped to the point of inconveniencing himself. He loved. So "what is" the Samaritan? He is the person we all want for our "significant other", or a friend, family member, neighbor, or the person to be nearby when we need help. We all want him near. He has earned his reward in heaven, probably on regular occassions. What he is is Christ-like.
The news abounds with stories of those who are on the other end of the spectrum from the Samaritan. A recent example is the college dorm-mate who posted video of his gay roommate's sexual encounter on the internet, which led the gay young man to commit suicide. Who did this roommate love? The frat house mentality of this event would indicate a very immature desire for the attention and praise of equally twisted minds. "Love" from those who can't or won't give it. All he could get from that audiance would be online "comments". Is that where we are today? There is no REAL interaction between people, it's all virtual. Who does he love? He who cannot love in return.
"This new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you". Christ loved us enough to suffer all the pain of the world for us. Who does He love? Each one of us, regardless of who we are, how we behave, where we're from, or how much we love him in return. That's why it's called Christ-like love, or god-like love. They, the perfect, are the only one's capable of it. But they ask us to try, as the Samaritan did.
It's worth thinking about. How does my behavior show whom I love?
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