I got out of the house recently and did more socializing than I had done since B.C. Around here B.C., stands for before COVID. I ate, drank and was merry with some of my loved ones. They loved me and let me love them back.

I had no idea how badly that was needed.

Feeling that togetherness, that unity, started me thinking that politicians may never bring people together, but maybe love can. Whenever you get some or give some, love instantly brings you closer to the divine.

Our entire life is a quest for love. At least it should be. But many in the “Love Thy Neighbor” crowd seem to have lost sight of that message. Makes you wonder if they even know their God.

Leave a newborn alone and without love for any period of time.

Some of you just cringed at the cruelty of the suggestion because you know that child will be miserable. Cuddle and love on the same infant, even a little, and it will give you all of its consciousness searching for more love … searching … for a connection with the divine.

Love is essential. It is the spiritual thread that connects humanity, holds families together and makes communities stronger. Love keeps us in touch with who we are really intended to be. It reminds us of the stakes when we awake to spin the big wheel of life.

The lockdowns and separation of four years ago caused us to neglect personal relationships. Activities that provided at least a sense of community were cast off and never rejoined. For many, this included church. I carried a respectable bowling average for years, but have not set foot in a bowling alley since B.C. My wife and I would go to karaoke a few times a month, but no more.

Americans became so comfortable in our separateness during the pandemic that we began to prefer isolation. Even bathing became optional for some. By working at home we were spared Samantha’s ritualistic burning of the microwave popcorn at the office (Yes, every day absolutely without fail). We found endless hours to wallow in thoughts about ourselves and the many things we fear.

The boob tube that drove Howard Beale insane in the Best Picture Oscar winner from 1976 B.C., “Network,” became the center of life for a protracted period. Now we scour the internet for answers and have found conspiracy theorists filling the void with lies and deception of every sort. We wasted our lives on insipid drivel like “Tiger King.”

We faced a crisis worthy of true American heroism and barely earned a passing grade.

At a time when America was drowning in confusion and antipathy the news media was putting out fire with gasoline. The talking heads chose not to bring the nation comfort and clarity amidst the COVID-19 pandemic because love does not butter their bread like death and desperation.

And we wonder why we’re all mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore?

Share the love

Being among people felt great when we got out and about. I saw family members I had not seen since B.C. A couple of my oldest friends and I had been on the outs. No one was really sure why. We finally mended fences and broke bread and that felt great, too. Here was the love we craved. I felt joyful and free all day.

People out there were courteous and civil in this land everyone says is so divided. It felt more like people were going out of their way to be civilized and friendly. When I looked folks in the eye, I did not see hate. Instead there was the comfort and familiarity of my community.

We hit the legendary Peoria karaoke bar, Basket Case, like it was 1990 B.C. We partied and I shook my ample booty while belting out several songs with gusto. The strangers at the bar joined in. Some cheered, some jeered and at least a ton of derrière, all told, was shaken. No one was injured.

An earnest look into the eyes of another reveals what they are about. A person’s true intentions, for good or evil, are given clarity and connotation when you look them in the eye. The fraudulent are easily exposed. Much of the window dressing and falsehood people so comfortably project with their online personas just evaporates. The true self is there.

Reasonable people can usually occupy a space of civility even in a face-to-face disagreement if they find understanding and empathy in each other’s eyes.

Faith, hope and love

This should be especially true of all who proclaim to follow Christ. Jesus never sought to enrich himself or dominate others. These modern-day evangelicals aggressively advance exclusion and injustice on an industrial scale.

These people ignore the disgrace they are bringing to their worship and the dishonor they heap upon the name of our Lord and Savior. As if He does not keep receipts.

Project 2025 and the policies therein are rooted in a diabolical grab for power and wealth. Christians who support it enable and legitimize evildoers akin to an American Taliban. They intend to unilaterally leverage their will upon our republic in the following ways: by imposing ideological purity, preaching compromise as a weakness, insisting on a fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism, denying science, being undeterred by facts or new information, having a hostile fear of progress, demonizing education, controlling women’s bodies, extreme xenophobia and a tribal mentality.

Jesus exhorted his disciples to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Later in those same inspired scriptures, John teaches us that “anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” The shot is that dehumanizing your fellow humans places you in conflict with God.

My favorite expression of the Christian ideal of love is found at 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8. “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 replaces it with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Lovely leadership

There are few politicians who could ever fully embody that beautiful expression of humility and sacred love. We must choose leaders who will at least lead our nation towards love and thereby towards God. Empathy and resentment are mutually exclusive.

Love enables you to see me as you see yourself. It protects us from the selfish impulses that drive men to exploit and brutalize each other. Love opens the door to understanding and compromise.

Sarcastic maliciousness now defines our politics and has bastardized our society. The promise of one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all has been derailed. Our pursuit of a more perfect union and the realization of our dreams has been desecrated.

There was a time when it was possible to hate someone’s beliefs without hating the person. People rarely talked about politics or religion in the America of my youth out of respect for their neighbors. We looked one another in the eye and found a reassurance there that we could share this great nation and ensure prosperity for our descendants despite our differences.

Cultivating the Christian ideal of love in our personal lives is incredibly difficult and requires tremendous effort and faith. The more we trudge towards love individually, the more our families and communities will begin to drift away from hate collectively.

Reach out to those closest to you and just love them. Forgive everything. Get out of yourself and spend some time living life among your neighbors. Take a minute to look a stranger in the eye with love.

You may find more unity there than you expected.