Finding Our Way Back to Love: A Message for All Humanity
By Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW
Dear friends, wherever you are in this world, whatever beliefs guide your heart, whatever experiences have shaped your journey – this message is for you. It comes from a place of deep hope and unwavering faith in our shared humanity.
The Universal Language of Love
In a world that often feels divided by invisible lines – politics, religion, culture, geography – there exists something that transcends all boundaries: our capacity to love. Love doesn't ask for your voter registration card or your religious affiliation. It doesn't care about the color of your skin or the language you speak. Love simply is, and it exists within each of us, waiting to be awakened, waiting to be shared.
I've been thinking lately about how we've lost touch with this simple truth. We've become so focused on our differences, so entrenched in our positions, that we've forgotten the most fundamental thing that connects us all: we are human beings, sharing this one precious planet, all trying to find meaning, happiness, and connection.
Learning from Our Four-Legged Teachers
Have you ever watched a puppy? Really watched one? There's something profound in their eyes – a purity that we adults seem to have forgotten. A puppy doesn't care if you're rich or poor, conservative or liberal, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist or other beliefs. They don't see race or nationality. They see a potential friend, a source of warmth, someone to love unconditionally.
When a puppy approaches you, tail wagging, eyes bright with joy, they're offering you the purest form of love – love without agenda, without conditions, without judgment. They love simply because love is their nature. They haven't learned to hate, to discriminate, to build walls. They only know how to open their hearts.
What if we could remember how to love like that? What if we could approach each other with that same openness, that same willingness to see the good in every person we meet?
The Courage to Feel and Still Choose Love
I'm not suggesting we ignore our feelings or pretend that hurt, anger, and fear don't exist. These emotions are part of being human, and they often carry important messages. The courage I'm talking about is different – it's the courage to feel these emotions fully, acknowledge them, and then make a conscious choice to not let them drive our actions toward others.
It takes strength to say, "I feel angry about this situation, but I choose not to let that anger poison my interactions with people who think differently than me." It takes wisdom to recognize, "I feel afraid of what I don't understand, but I choose curiosity over fear, connection over isolation."
Our feelings are valid, but they don't have to be our masters. We can honor them while still choosing love as our guiding principle.
The Path Forward: Small Acts, Great Impact
Change doesn't happen overnight, and it doesn't require grand gestures. It starts with small, everyday choices:
Listen with genuine curiosity. When someone shares a perspective that challenges yours, instead of immediately formulating your counterargument, try to understand their experience. What led them to this belief? What hopes or fears might be driving their position?
Look for common ground. Despite our surface differences, we all want safety for our families, opportunities for our children, dignity in our work, and love in our relationships. These shared desires are the foundation upon which bridges can be built.
Choose kindness in small moments. A smile to a stranger, patience with someone who's struggling, grace for someone who makes a mistake – these seemingly minor acts ripple outward in ways we may never fully know.
Remember our shared humanity. Behind every political position, every religious belief, every cultural practice, there are human beings with hopes, dreams, fears, and the desire to be understood and valued.
A Call to Hearts Everywhere
To my friends on the left and the right, to believers and skeptics, to people of all colors and cultures, to those who feel seen and those who feel forgotten – we need each other. Our diversity isn't a weakness to be overcome; it's a strength to be celebrated. Different perspectives, when shared with respect and genuine care, make us all wiser.
The world has enough anger, enough division, enough walls. What if we became the generation that remembered how to love without conditions? What if we learned to disagree with grace, to debate with respect, to stand firm in our values while still extending our hands to those who see things differently?
The Puppy's Wisdom
Soon, if you have the chance, spend a few minutes with a dog or watch videos of puppies playing. Notice how they love without reservation, how they forgive instantly, how they approach the world with wonder and joy. They haven't forgotten what we seem to have lost.
We can learn from them. We can remember that love isn't naive – it's the most powerful force in the universe. It's what builds families, communities, and nations. It's what heals wounds, bridges divides, and creates hope where there was none.
Our Choice
Each day, we wake up with a choice. We can contribute to the noise, the anger, the division – or we can be voices of love, understanding, and unity. We can see others as enemies to be defeated, or as fellow travelers on this journey of life, each carrying their own struggles and dreams.
The choice is ours, and it matters more than we know.
Let's choose love. Let's choose connection. Let's choose to see the light in each other, even when the world feels dark. Let's be the change we wish to see, one heart, one conversation, one act of kindness at a time.
The puppies are showing us the way. The question is: are we ready to follow?
With love and hope for all humanity,
A fellow traveler on this journey
This message is for everyone, everywhere. Please share it with anyone who might need to remember that they are loved, valued, and part of our shared human family.
