What It Really Means to LOVE

Good Saturday Morning!

I've spent the last three days discussing this CRAZY four-letter word, "LOVE." At 28 years old, I've experienced it in a few of ways; love with my family, a platonic love, and then love of people in general.  I know there are specific names like EROS, PHILOS, and AGAPE. Erotic love, Platonic, and unconditional, I believe. But, I really don't want to get into that haha. 

I have never been IN love with another human being and I'm pretty sure I'm cool with that. Annnnddd, that's not what I want to get into either haha.

So, what is the purpose of this? I want to get into a general love of people. Yes, I know people are crazy and absolutely insane at times, but it's something we HAVE to do. We don't have to LIKE people, but we have to LOVE them. EVERYONE.

I woke up to my Daily Bible scripture this morning from Mark 12: 30-31. Check it out:

³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
³¹And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
                                                                                                                 [Source]

This is for my friends who are Christian, aren't, and those who "can't deal with Christians" because of the extremists you see and hear from all the time. Yes, those "extremists" I speak of are like the "extremists" of EVERY GROUP that makes it on tv or on the radio because they talk the loudest and spew things that don't even make sense half the time. These people "represent" ALL in a group, and the real members of said group have a tougher time cleaning up that mess.

Back to the scripture. God has commandments for us to live by. There's a bunch of them (namely ten), but He decided that LOVE was the most important of them all. Love Him first and foremost and then love the people that He's put on this earth to coexist.

Mind. Blown.

Okay, so not my mind. Growing up, I was raised old school by my grandparents. If you know me well enough, you know the story. If not, there ya go. My grandfather was born in 1926 and my grandmother in 1936. They raised a ton of children (Some that weren't their own), grandchildren (some that weren't their own), and a few lucky great-grandchildren. You would think that coming from those time periods, there would be a couple of hang ups and restrictions of "loving everybody." However, there weren't.

"You have to love everyone, you don't have to like them, baby." I'm not sure if that's an actual one-liner from my grandmother, but it's at the very least a bunch of convos put together to make my point. (we call that journalism in this day and age)

Anywho, I take those lessons in the literal sense. The people that I may not have liked growing up, I still had to love them. My father who has said he loves me, I have to agree with him...I love me, too...No, really, bad joke. I love him, but I'm not fond of him. People that I don't know, I gotta love them, because just like me they were made in the image of Him. Even when awful people turn the corner, don't speak HATE, speak love. Just like Jack Ingram has done here:



Alright, that was a comic break, because it's about to get REAL.

So, we get the point of me being raised to love EVERYONE. Race, religion, ethnicity, etc..

That brings us to a time when people starting coming out of the closet and openly proclaiming their homosexuality. I think as kids, you make fun of it because it's like, "what?! really? Huh?" You don't understand it. As kids, you just practice what you hear your parents say.  As young adults, you're like, "whoa...um..okay, I guess that's cool, just don't hit on me?! I don't know..." Again, you don't REALLLLY get it. And finally, as an adult (speaking of my generation), you say, "oh, okay, Yeah I knew that...pass me the ketchup, please."

At least that's my thought processes, minus the fact that I don't have a "gay-dar," so I don't really know all the time.

I've just taken the lessons I learned as a child to include those who are doing their thing and loving who they want to love. "Do what you gotta do."

For YEARS, I've watched "Christians" DAMN homosexuals to hell because "their whole life is a SIN...check out Leviticus in the Bible..." For YEARS, I've been telling those "Christians" to "CHILL OUT." And this is what they can check out:

• You are not GOD. You cannot damn people and tell them they're going to hell. Not your job.
• Say what you have to say and move on. In reality, it's really NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WHAT OTHER'S DO WITH THEIR LIVES.
• Let's start pointing out the sins in your life...not so fun, eh?
• Mark 12:30-31

Boom. Roasted.

Seriously, when I bring up number 3, people get mad. They don't like you to point out having sex out of wedlock, having a child out of wedlock, gambling, addictions, etc. I mean, if we're going to go word for word in the Bible, let's rock with it. Their reasoning, "I repented and I have been forgiven." Well, cool deal. But it only works one way, right? God only loves and forgives YOU and people like yourself, right?!

Just wanted to clarify it all.

That last reason...those 2 scriptures say it all. God WANTS US TO LOVE. You want to know why things are going wrong in the world? It's NOT the Gays, westboro baptist church, it's because you're HATE-FILLED BIGOTS. We can't get along in the world because we want to point out the wrongs in everyone else.

There was this video we used to watch in my house and featured a song that featured the lyric, "sweep around your own front door before you try to sweep around mine." So simple, yet so poignant.

What is so HARD about LOVING others? What is so HARD about even just TOLERATING others?

Tol-er-ate:

1. Allow the existence, occurrence, or practice of (something that one does not necessarily like or agree with) without interference.

2. Accept or endure (someone or something unpleasant or disliked) with forbearance

You don't have to like it, but you don't get "all up in the kool aid," as the kids used to say.  If God gave you the job of making those BIG calls, you wouldn't do it, so stop trying to do His gig better than He does.

Yes, I'm still on this LOVE kick. God loves us all. He told us so. He loves us NO MATTER WHAT. That's the ULTIMATE Unconditional Love. He loves everyone's quirks, everyone's "shortcomings," no matter what, He's a true father and just continues to help us get through life when we don't even know why.  Check out "Love" from God's Property :



The lines that stick out for this lesson in life:

"I'll never know why You love me" and "It's a MYSTERY TO ME..."

So, if we can't figure out why God loves us with all of our flaws, how can we be sure He DEFINITELY DOESN'T love a certain type of people?

Your. Mind. Blown.

Fight me on that one. I'll take you on every time. I may not know a lot about love. I may not know the Bible word for word. I may not go to YOUR church every Sunday. But one thing I do know is we are all imperfect creatures and God still DIGS US! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

Amazing.

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Fast forward to the last couple of days and my backlash from a break I did on air yesterday.

A show I don't care about, "Dancing with the Stars," announced its lineup this week. Woot, don't care. I knew people were upset because there weren't really "STARS" on the show, but I had no clue the backlash was there because of two people: Carson Kreesly and Chaz Bono.

Carson is a gay man who was on our TV screens with "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," and other shows including "Oprah." Chaz is a dude that used to be a chick. He was born, Chasity Bono to Sonny & Cher. He was once a lesbian, but definitely felt like he was a dude in a chick's body, so he decided to be a dude. He is transgendered.

(I know I simplified it to the worst possible level, but it's the only way I understand it.)

These two individuals are going to go on the show and do their thing and I wasn't going to watch because...I don't like the show. Funny how that works.

Back to the people who flipped their lids.

A facebook friend and internet blogger, Courtney Enlow Hall, wrote a much better blog than mine explaining the situation. People leaving hate-filled messages to ABC. Saying that ABC has a "gay-agenda." Blah blah blah and people not wanting their kids to see it!
                                                                                           [Source: Pajiba]

Yesterday, I took to the airwaves to tell people to chill the eff out. "REALLY?! Guys, we've been over this A MILLION TIMES. We're in this thing together. Let's just love each other while we're here. If you don't like it, TURN THE CHANNEL. Hate-filled people are the worst kind of people. And if you're worried about your children watching craziness...DON'T LET THEM WATCH IT"

That's a summary of what I said.  I love the people that talk about "DWTS" and the family-friendliness going away because of  gay and transgendered males on tv. Let us not forget the great values Kim Kardashian has taught, "make a sex tape and be rich beyond your belief,"that's a good one.

Or "The Situation," "I'm also famous for no reason except I think I'm hot and I probably have a ton of STDs because as you can tell from my TV show I sleep with a lot of girls."

How about Bristol Palin,"I had sex and a child out of wedlock while my mom was trying to prove to the world that abstinence-education works. I also am involved in a very public feud with my baby daddy and am milking it for all it's worth"
Hines Ward - DUI
Erin Andrews - milking her nude photos for everything and making it look like no big deal when men stalk women (or even vice versa)
Lil Kim
David Hasselhoff
(Do I even have to mention why they are family-friendly people?)

I have the faint belief if ABC had booked casey anthony over Chaz Bono, people wouldn't have gone as crazy as they have. I say faint, because I don't want to believe that.

I said that, and got messages of thanks for just keeping it real on air. We all SHOULD have a purpose and go against the grain when we have a platform such as radio. I tend to "go there" a lot and I don't care about the consequences because SOMEONE has to try and stop a generation of bigots, idiots, and so on and so forth. 

I did get a call from someone that asked, "Why is it you can't accept when people don't believe like you?"

My response: "I don't care if people believe different. I care when someone puts it out there that they HATE people. That's the only difference of opinion I don't accept. There's no reason to HATE just because someone is different from you."

Lady: "well, I believe different."

Me: "Well, I still LOVE you, BUT you're the worse kind of person if you HATE."

Lady: "I can't listen to that gay stuff anymore."

Me: "Okay, wow. Well, you're really listening to the wrong station then."

Lady: *scoff* "Why do you talk about that stuff? Q101 doesn't."

Me: "Exactly."

Lady: "What?"

Me: *laugh* "Exactly. Have a nice day and God Bless."

Lady hangs up.

The calls got great when I questioned parenting skills and told people to mind their business.

Generic response: "You're single with no children, you can't tell someone they're a bad parent."

Me: "Yes I can."

Them: "No you can't."

Me: "Yes I can, because if YOU are a bad parent and bring your child out in public...it shows. It disrupts my existence."

Them: "That's stretching."

Me: "Eh, maybe, but there's truth to it. If you don't teach your children basic manners it shows in public because your child is running around WalMart like he's the kid from 'The Jungle Book.' Your kid comes to my live broadcast and steals free stuff. Your kid doesn't say 'please,' 'thank you,' 'yes ma'am,' 'no, ma'am.' Your child talks to me in the same tone that they use for you-which is yelling and unsuitable. That's a no-no. That's how your bad parenting effects me."

*CLICK*
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What is WRONG with parents today? They get away with MURDER...LITERALLY and a parent won't say a word. You shouldn't be afraid to discipline a child. You shouldn't be afraid of your child and you definitely can't be a FRIEND of your child.

That does not mean you can beat the crap out of your kid. That's abuse.

Your child should fear you. Shut up if you don't agree. I'm not talking the child should be scared of being in the same location as you. I'm talking about, they should fear disappointing you, they should fear consequences of going along with the wrong crowd.  They should fear what's waiting for them after they stayed out too late, or snuck out, or got failing grades in school.

But, kids these days DON'T. And the parents' excuses are laughable.

"I don't have time to help them all the time. I work late..."
"You don't know the sacrifice I have to make daily..."
"I've spent too much time worrying about what they do, I give up..."
"It's time for me to live MY LIFE. Imma do me now..."

Oy. Vey. The generation below are full of excuses. It blows my mind how illiterate most kids are. The way they write on social networking sites bothers me because I KNOW it crosses over to real life. I had some high schoolers read liners for the radio last week and I was saddened by the reading levels. These were sophomores in high school that couldn't  say, "hi, I'm...from....High School, and I love Alice!" That's all they had to say. And it was like I had them read Pride and Prejudice aloud.

It's time to bring back those Goody brushes around homework time. Of course you've made sacrifices, you're not the only one...that's what a PARENT DOES!!! You're not done parenting, ever, I believe, but if all your children aren't 18 or over, you DEFINITELY aren't done. I hate seeing "parents" say and write that, "It's time for me to live MY LIFE..." YOUR LIFE IS YOUR CHILD. There's a great way to prevent that 18 year obligation. Birth Control.

And to see parents just GIVE UP is probably more sad than bad parenting itself. Never give up. Chances are your child is acting out BECAUSE OF YOU. Maybe that's the ONLY way they can get your attention. Give it to them and then teach them how to go about it the RIGHT WAY.

I challenge all parents to try it out. Don't let kids do what they want. Education is first and foremost. Teach them how to RESPECT authority.  "Sir," "ma'am," "mister," "missus." Don't teach them that no one can tell them they're wrong in school. I've had some bad teachers in my life, but that's the minority. Teachers go through a lot to get where they are to help your bad kids, give them respect. Don't just let your kids stay out all times a night, and in the words of my Pop-Pop, "DON'T TAKE UP FOR WRONG." If your kid is out there fighting all the time...nip that stuff in the bud. There's probably not a good reason for the fight. The reason was probably, someone said something about me that wasn't true.

Awww...so typical of teenagers. "Someone" will always say "something" about you. So what? If it's not true, big deal. Teach your kids vocabulary that will blow the minds of their opponents. Kids who use their fists all the time use it because there's not much in the brain.

                      ***I'm sure I'm pissing a lot of people off, but the truth hurts***

I'm not saying to let a kid's life be boring and uneventful. Encourage them to do more things in school like sports, student government, art, clubs, etc. If they do well in school, let them go to that party. But, if you have a dumb kid with no motivation to do well in school and is always getting in trouble, why do they have their own tv, cell phone, game system, or car?!

Bad parenting.

When I decide to have children, will I make mistakes? Absolutely, but that basic foundation will be in and my kids won't be running around stores and acting up in public.

OH and I will not let my children watch reality television unless it's educational like A&E's programs. Not scripted and garbage like "Basketball Wives."

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Love you all. I'm done writing. Haha. I just wanted to get out there the message of LOVE I was given this morning and the assist of a parenting blog.

Go out in the world and love everyone and mean it. Remember, you don't have to like 'em, but you do have to love 'em.