Love is Contagious

Matthew 23:12 – “They who exalt themselves will be humbled, and they who humble themselves will be exalted.”

“Hate is contagious,” the tweet began. My first thought was that love is contagious as well and is much more powerful. Those who exalt themselves over others are those who hate others. The actions of this administration have made it clear that they – every last one of them – are exalting themselves over the rest of us, especially those of us who happen to be dark-skinned. This exaltation in the name of their god is even more disgusting, as they claim the same god as I do. Yet, my God is Love and serving Love does not lead to putting children in cages after forcibly taking them from their parents. No matter what. That’s not even on the list of possibilities.

Yet, they have been humbled. Wednesday, 45 signed an executive order stopping the separation of children from their families at the border. As vague and meaningless as it turned out to be, 45 was forced into signing it. That is a major loss for him and for Republicans. I’ve seen a lot of posts and tweets saying this is not who we are. The truth is their policy is just a continuation of policies that do the same thing with Black children. The US was built on the backs of African slaves. Slave-owners sold children away from their parents whenever they felt like it, like we sell the pups and kittens of our pets. Today, the police shoot Black people of any age with impunity. This is and has always been who we are in the US. And we in the US are being humbled right along with our leaders.

Humbled because we separate politics from our everyday lives. Politics is something for other people; it’s boring. Yet, democracy only works for everyone when all its citizens participate. When people stop participating, only those who care will control the country. And the people who care the most are those already in power; rich, white, Protestant men i.e. the Republican party. Because we stopped participating in running our own towns and cities, our states and the nation, even our school boards, they’ve been hijacked by those who will participate. When people began calling their representatives and senators over the separation of kids from their parents, things changed. Now that we’ve been humbled, we must stay humble. As citizens we have duties as well as rights. One of those duties is to pay attention to the government we elected. To protest policies that are unjust – every, single time. That is love in action.

Love is just as contagious as hate, maybe more so. One way to love our neighbors is to pay attention to the policies our mayors, county supervisors, state legislatures, and the US Congress propose. It is an act of love to stay informed about how these policies would not just affect us, but our brothers and sisters living here in the US, whether they’re here legally or not. It is an act of love to stop voter suppression, voter intimidation, extreme gerrymandering, and other ways of cheating to win. It is an act of love to suggest that we need penalties attached to such cheating – including negating all legislation enacted by such cheaters. It is an act of love to not buy into the lies that our country’s borders are insecure, that we have to fear everyone who doesn’t look as white as the milk we drink. It is an act of love to protest in the streets when our leaders commit crimes against humanity, whether it's kids in cages or Black people being shot by police. 

It is an act of love to stand with our Black brothers and sisters, to stand with our Latinx brothers and sisters, to stand with our Asian brothers and sisters, to stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters, to stand with our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters as we work toward a US that welcomes people of all religions, nationalities, skin colors, sexual orientations, and genders, and treats them with the respect we all deserve as human beings.

Let's spread the love of our God today.