The American Frank

 

Man invented Valentine’s Day to love anyway, dating it 14 February and celebrating love each year with the Signs of the Times: Valentine cards, greetings, gifts. I shall from now on celebrate it with the Signs of Love.

The world stones me with the gravel of hate and showers me with the sand of indifference, unceasingly. Love, I shall love anyway, endlessly. This much I know: Love is the affirmation of the true, the good, the beautiful; hate is the affirmation of the untrue, the ungood, the unbeautiful.

In the 3^rd century, Bishop Valentine celebrated love by giving all of his great wealth and all of himself – he was beheaded by Emperor Claudius on 14 February 270 AD for celebrating young love and rejecting the Emperor’s War. Today, the world celebrates his love sacrifice with tokens of affection. I shall be of this world and not of this world.

What the world needs now is to collect on the promises of Love, not on the promises of Man (embracing Woman). What Man needs now is not liberation from hunger, not liberation from war, not liberation from terrorism, not liberation from disease, not liberation from poverty, not liberation from global warming, not liberation from political incorrectness – what Man needs now is liberation from unlove, which is his own. What Man needs now is to make love, not war.

I know that love is beautiful.

To love is always to be unfair, never to be fair. That’s why it’s love. That’s why it’s beautiful, that’s why it’s heavenly. Otherwise, it’s just economics, just swap, just barter, just exchange of goods, just commerce, just intercourse. Otherwise, it’s just a rule of law, just a rule of Man.

What is love? Love is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that all who may believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting love. Except that I am born again, I shall not enter the kingdom of love.

Love is something that doesn’t belong to me – it belongs to everyone. I shall not know the power of love until I share it. I know that it’s a treasure. If I keep a treasure to myself, I limit its power to multiply my pleasure.

Sometimes I shall love more, sometimes I shall love much; always I shall love. I shall love food but not excessively. I shall love leisure but not make it my master. I shall love TV shows but not allow them to rule my life. I shall love the newspapers but not believe everything they say. I shall love the Internet but not make it my fountain of wisdom. I shall love the computer and make it my slave.

I know that love is in and out. I was conceived in love. I was born out of love. Why can’t I go out of my way in love? Only, I, am, stopping, me.

A love has he who loves his friend. A great love has he who loves his enemy. No greater love has he who dies for his enemy.

Love is not writing a love letter; it’s writing a love life. Love makes me happy even if there is so much unlove in the world. I’m happy writing a love life.

I shall be full of love. And it is only I who can fill the emptiness. And there is only one thing I can fill the emptiness with: Love.

In love and in time, I shall know the answers to many questions. What’s the best form of love? That which I have right now. What’s the best expression of my love? That which I can think of. What’s the best gift in love? Myself. What’s the best time for love? All the time. What’s the best toast for love? ‘To love!’ When will I find love? When I will.

I know that love is a mystery, beyond understanding.

I don’t know how to love, but I shall love anyway.

To one who has love, no explanation is necessary. To one without love, no explanation is possible.

I don’t understand love. Love is beyond me. Love is something I sense and not sense, feel and not feel, see and not see, hear and not hear, think and not think.

To me, love is like a red, red rose. And a pink. And a yellow. And a blue rose.

There are no ingredients of love. Love is the ingredient entire of itself.

I know that love is not a 50-50 proposition. It’s not a proposition at all. I can’t propose love – I can only do it, I can only give it. And when I do love, it’s not a ratio, not a proportion, not a share, not a turn, not a schedule. Love has no components, no elements, no facets, no dimensions. Love is always all or nothing at all.

Love doesn’t prove anything. It is not out to prove anything. What need do I have of proof?! It is itself the proof. I know that love is not a heroism of the intellect; it is a surrender. Love has reason that reason itself does not understand.

I know that love is a paradox: If I give more love, my love will give me more. A little love will bring my soul to heaven; a little more love will bring heaven to my soul.

I know that love is a mystery, so I shall not bother trying to define it for myself. If it were not a mystery, what would be the reason to seek it? Love is meant to be defined in the living of it. Love depends on the lover, me.

Love has no beginning and no end. I shall not look for the beginning – I shall just go ahead and do it. I shall not look for the end – there is no end if there is no beginning.

From whom shall I learn love? Except that I be born again, I shall not learn love. I shall learn from the infants, the children, the innocent ones. They trust. They keep faith. They keep on caring. They will get mad and cry and run away and come back. They hug with their little arms and their big hearts. Their smile is as fresh as the morning dew. They know how to love beyond their hurts.

The best kept secret of love is that it’s an active verb, not a passive noun. Love is something I give, more than what I receive. I know that in love, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Love is a passionate intuition. Unless I love, I will never understand.

I know that love is enriching.

I want to know. I know that love is for knowing. Why should I love someone who hates me? Because I want to know what love is. Why should I love someone I hate? Because I already know what hate is.

I shall think of love always. I know that love is the greatest good. Even when I think it’s stupid to love, I shall love anyway. Love is how I define it by what I do and how I do it. I define the blessings that love gives back to me by the love I give.

If I give love, love is what I get back. Love cannot give anything back except itself. Maybe not at once, but sooner or later. I look forward to the day when I can say, sincerely: ‘My cup runneth over.’

What’s the best medium to express my love? My action.
What’s the best way to say ‘I love you’ to someone? To mean it.
What’s the best place to make love? In my heart.
What’s the best music for love? That which is available.
What’s the best reason to love? None. If I reason it out, it’s not love; rather, it becomes a prize and there can be only one winner.

Love is addicting, love is fulfilling. Love is the most profound thought I can have – but only if I don’t think about it.

I know that love is everyday.

I can recognize love in any message sent to me, whatever the form is, whatever the subject is. It’s the love that counts, not the message.

I shall love the peace and seek meaning from it. If I don’t find meaning, I shall love anyway. Someday I’ll find that meaning.

I shall love the noise of life. It’s part of life. I shall live life. I shall love life. I shall live love.

I shall love myself. I shall remind myself always: Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t abuse drugs, don’t abuse women, don’t abuse the maid, don’t abuse the clerk, don’t abuse the bus driver, don’t swear. And don’t gamble, except on love.

I shall cultivate love. I shall call my family and friends and send them messages once in a while, especially those who have forgotten me. I know that love is beautiful when remembered; even so, love is more beautiful in the doing than in the remembering.

How can I love Management when I’m Labor? I can. I can think of them as family, because they are. How can I love Labor when I’m Management? I can. I can think of them as family, because they have always been.

I can’t go out searching for love; I can only go out and make it. I can’t go out looking foreatest love of all.

I know thatr love, because outside is the wrong place to look: I can only look inside myself.

I know that the best month to love is February. Then March. Then April. Then May. Then June. Then July. Then August. Then September. Then October. Then November. Then December. Then January.And then it begins again.

I know that love is difficult.

On Valentine’s Day, my loved ones love me; my enemies hate me, and I’m afraid to love them. I shall love them anyway. Then I will come to know the g love is easier said than done. I shall love anyway. What gain is there if there is no pain?

I shall teach love. How can I love those who plot against me in all manners evil? I know that they don’t know what love is. So I shall love them anyway.

What if my love turns out also to be money, power, privilege? I shall love myself anyway. Then I will begin to understand that if I wish myself well, I will love myself, not money, not power, not privilege.

I shall love my neighbors. How can I love my neighbors when my neighbors are dangerous? I shall remind myself that hate is more dangerous than love.

How can I love when I can’t forget the hurt? Precisely! That’s a damn good reason for me to love. How can I love when I’m angry? All the more reason to love. I know that it’s easier to hate than to love. But I shall love anyway. If love is not one of my habits, then I shall cultivate it.

How can I measure love? If I can measure love, it’s not love; it’s already a commodity. Why can people love humanity but not people? They know only to love in the abstract. If somebody asks for a favor and I give it, is that love? No, but it’s a good beginning.

How can I love when I feel miserable? I can try harder. It’s good for me.
When is the time not to love? None. It’s always time to love because it’s always appropriate.
Suppose when I love I endanger myself? That’s nothing new. I’m always vulnerable when I love.

If I have not discovered that love is all that, I have not discovered love at all. Love is not a destination; it’s a journey. Love is not what I attain; love is what I assume right from the very beginning. Love is not someone or something to remember. Love is what I have. Love is either with me, or against me.

What about indiscretion? An indiscretion is a lapse of love. It is easier to be indiscreet than to love. It takes courage to love, it takes just a little cowardice to surrender to temptation. It takes a lot of love to forgive an indiscretion, but I shall love anyway.

I shall not call it sacrificing but giving love.
I shall not call it forgiving but giving love.
I shall not call it forgetting but giving love.
I shall not call it remembering but giving love.
I shall not call it repairing a damage but giving back love.

When I love, numbers don’t count. I don’t mind the times. I don’t make a list. I don’t enumerate. I don’t resort to bullets as in a PowerPoint presentation. I don’t compute.

If there is a Ms Right, it’s because of me. I can’t look for a Ms Right; I have to make her myself. If she isn’t Ms Right, I shall love anyway and that will make her Ms Right.

I can’t go out selling love – I have already debased it. I can’t go out asking for love – I can only go handing out love. I can’t go out demanding love from the world – there are millions of people out there doing exactly the same thing.

Even if I don’t know how to love perfectly, I shall love anyway. I know that in the loving, love will teach me. Then I shall know what is good, what is pleasing, what is perfect.

I know that to love is to assume love.

I know that the beginning of love is the beginning of wisdom. How can I give a gift of love if I have no love to begin with? I shall love anyway. I shall begin by assuming love. That is the only way I can begin, I can go on, I can stay in love. It is the only way I can love the unlovable.

The poor don’t bother me; the rich don’t bother me, so why should I bother about them? I shall love anyway. Then I will come to know what God and love is.

I shall love aside. I shall love some other person aside from my spouse, aside from my siblings, aside from my children, aside from my friends, aside from my officemates, aside from my group, aside from my classmates, aside from some people I know, aside from some people I like.

How can I love people? I can wish them well. I can do them well. I can think well of them. Amidst all that, I shall remember: Love makes all things possible, but not easy.

I shall love the time. I shall love the morning, the noon, the afternoon, the evening, the night’s sleep. I shall love the sleepless night anyway.

Love is what I make it. I shall make love in peace; I shall not make war. How can I make love in war? The same way I can make love in peace. It’s much harder, but it’s much more rewarding.

What if after all I don’t know how to love? I shall love anyway. Love is in finding the way. What if I don’t have a loving heart? I shall love anyway. Love is in the trying to love.

How can I love if I have been taught to hate? I shall begin by loving the person who taught me. And how do I begin? I shall begin anywhere but begin!

I know that love is more than making love.

On Valentine’s Day, there is love exchanged between loved ones. Why is there no love exchanged between enemies? Because in hate, it’s more difficult to love than to hate. I can’t build love as I can build rage in my body. Anger consumes my body; love consumes not only my body but my whole being. In hate, to assume love is more exhausting. Remember, the hater prefers the path of least resistance.

What if in particular I love a person, a thing, a place, or something else? Love has no object of love. If I love, I love all. To have an object to love is to select. If I select, my love is incomplete. Love does not select; instead, it encompasses. Love is bigger than all. Love covers all.

I shall love the challenge, the opportunity, the impossible. I shall love them all. If the challenge defeats me, if I miss the opportunity, if I fail in the impossible, I don’t miss on love anyway.

I shall love what I shall get. I shall love the flowers even when they are not the most expensive, not the loveliest, not the freshest, even when they are a thousand days late. I know that it’s the thought that counts. If there are no flowers sent, it’s my thought that counts.

I shall love everyone. How can I love the dishonest, the crook, the corrupt, the liar, the killer, the traitor? I shall love them as people, as human beings, as God’s own, as I am.

I can’t spend time with the one I love; I can only spend love. That’s quality. There is no such thing as quality time if there is no love in it, if I can’t give myself fully to it. I shall give myself fully to love!

What can I do when I have loved and lost? I can love again.

When I love, I don’t simply desire – I express it. When I love, I don’t turn the pages back – I keep writing on the book of life. When I love, I don’t reject – I accept hook, line and stinker.

Love is a will: I will forget, I will forgive, I will love. I can’t wait for love – it waits for me. I can’t fall in love – I can only jump right into it.

This I am aware of: The end of love is the end of wisdom. This I know: Hate hates haters; love loves lovers.

I know that love is all that. How can I ever love like all that? I can. If I can’t find a way to love, I shall make it. I shall be patient. If I can’t grow in love in a hurry, I shall grow in love slowly, in always trying. If I don’t succeed, I shall love again anyway. For to love anyway is to be born again to life.

To Love Anyway
A modern meditation on the world
Copyright 14 February 2007 by Frank A Hilario. Clipart from Microsoft Publisher 2000. I thought and wrote most of this in one sleepless night, 10-11 February 2007, in a room in a friend’s house at #9 Camaro Street, Fairview Subdivision, Quezon City. Thank God for friends.