Owen is buzzing around our bedroom this morning, pretending the vacuum extension tube is a leaf blower, and I'm drying my hair and thinking of doing a post on how much I love this goofy kid and his almost always happy, laid-back self.
And I wonder, "do I love him so much because of his personality?". Well, no, not entirely; I think I'd love him no matter his personality - after all, I love Cearra and her character traits and quirks are different than Owen's.
So why do I love him? It's obviously not genetics. It's not (solely) because he's adorable. It can't be just that he makes me laugh everyday or that my role as "mom" guarantees that I love him. Perhaps adoptive parents focus on this more than bio parents as we don't have that whole blood is thicker than water thing to fall back on (or maybe I'm just way too introspective).
Anyway, it's interesting isn't it? How do we as humans come to love our offspring? I think there must be many pieces to it, but it occurs to me that a primary one has to spring from caring for that child - nourishing, protecting, encouraging, putting his/her needs above one's own. That child then becomes something we are extremely invested in; once he/she responds to our efforts - a smile, a hug, that first heart-soaring "I love you mommy", well, that old Pavlovian response kicks in and we recognize it as love. We want to keep it going.
Now, imagine if we applied that same exercise to our community, our country, our world? If as individuals we took it upon ourselves to nourish, protect, and encourage other members of our human family? I think you can see where I'm going with this ... the love would be boomeranging all about. And with that much love, there's less room for abuse and neglect and violence and hatred.
Pretty neat idea for the new year, huh?
1 comment:
Dear Jodi,
What a universal message...how simple it is to understand, and yet so difficult to achieve. "Love thy neighbor"...
Thank you for this post...it is so eloquently written.
Much love,
Pam
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