“I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love,” said Dr. Maya Angelou. Love is the most powerful force on the planet.  It has the ability to make even the strongest of people weak. Love is such a powerful force that if used correctly has the ability to free someone’s guilty conscious. And everyone has this power in them. Why are there so many hurting souls out there, so many grudges being held? We need to realize that as humans we all need that one person that loves us. We need to hear that we are loved. Love affects everyone differently but we all can agree that it makes us do some crazy things.

If you have the ability to forgive someone and to make them realize that you still care about them, why don’t you? I understand that there are some cases where you feel like you just can’t, but I want to know before you declared this state of mind, if you ever exactly tried to love them and look passed their flaws.  To help them to become free of the “crimes” against you. Love liberates.  If you are able to acknowledge that you are a human and that you are made up of the same things that they are made, you will soon realize that you are capable of doing the same things that they have done. Now that you have made this connection doesn’t it change things a little? Wouldn’t you want that person that you hurt to liberate you, so that you are able to move forward with life?

Love is such a powerful force that it has the ability to make someone weak. Of course, I don’t mean physically but mentally. Have you ever loved someone or something so much that you will do anything for them? And every time you think about it your day just seems a little better? Personally, I have that one thing that I am in love with. That is dancing. It’s actually kind of crazy, but the things that I have done to my body just so that I can try to perfect this art form is rather insane, but that’s what loving something but does to you. You force yourself to do anything that will impress them.  

Another example would be the love between you and your parents. I know for a fact that nine times out of 10 parents will do anything for their children. It may not always seem that way, but parents are probably affected the most when it comes to love. They love you so much sometimes it may seem overbearing and you just want them to go away. But think about if they really did go away. I wouldn’t know what to do with my life. I would be hopeless without the support that my parents give me on a daily basis. I have seen some parents go through a lot of crap just to make sure that their kids can have something nice. I recently watched a documentary about children in poverty and some of those stories were amazing. One mother featured in the film, worked three jobs and sometimes went hungry just in order for her children to have something to eat. That’s the true power of love.

“Love says, ‘I love you. I love you if you’re in China. I love you if you’re across town. I love you if you’re in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you. I’d like to have your arms around me. I’d like to hear your voice in my ear. But that’s not possible now, so I love you.’” Angelou said. She was the one of the best teachers who taught about how to love. She challenged us all to liberate and to accept everyone with love.

KySean is majoring in speech communication. He can be reached at [email protected]