Loving nothing

Love causes nothing. We love people for reasons. Loving everybody, and for no reason greater than the fact that they exist, is inflationary: My love becomes worthless if I give it away freely to all takers.

One of the most disgusting things I have ever seen on CNN was an interview with the mother of a young woman who had been raped and brutally murdered. This mother was sitting next to the animal who stole her daughter’s future and made her last living memory bloody pain and horror show. This mother was holding the murderers’ hand, the hand that had held the knife that had slit her daughter’s throat. She had developed a relationship with this monster while he was serving time in prison and was working to win his early release. She was proud of the fact that she had forgiven him and that the two of them had become quite close. She talked about the healing power of forgiveness and Christian love. She thanked God. This murderer, she said, had become “like a son” to her.

This is pure evil.

Christianity mandates that I love everybody...even my enemies! Nonsense. If my enemy breaks into my house and threatens the people I love, I will kill him. I will not lose one second of sleep over the decision. I will not be sorry I did it. Love becomes worthless when a person of good character loves a murderer or child molester. Murderers, rapists, and child molesters don’t deserve love; they deserve death.

In short, we don't love people, we love the values they possess and live by. As I have explained previously, to love a scoundrel is to devalue your love. You're saying the values of the scoundrel are worthy of your love, that they are in fact your values.

Love your neighbor? Certainly, you should meet all new faces with an open mind, and of course, if you can find reason to love, do so. The choice is always yours. But, you have no duty to love your neighbor. Your only moral responsibility to your neighbor is to do no harm. Respect his right to exist and his liberty to pursue his own happiness. If he respects truth and is a man of integrity, you may discover cause to love.

But your neighbor is also that stupid, lazy, no good, drug-addicted, welfare mother who had two kids before she dropped out of high school, who now demands that you pay for her housing, food, and drug habit. Love her and you are loving somebody with whom you share no values. Your unconditional love gives credence to her contemptible value system. She's counting on your pity and your charity, on the "goodness of your heart." In other words, she's counting on you to ignore what your rational mind is telling you to do: loathe her. She's counting on your guilt.

She demands that you sacrifice not only your wealth to her, but your values, your integrity.

L, by the way, was my [actual] neighbor before she became my wife! I knew three other girls in my apartment complex at the time I met her. She’s the only one I love. In fact, I don’t know if the others are even alive today.