Love is the most effective tool for revolutions
I want to be a revolutionary.
In my mind’s eye, my tools will not be guns nor force, but love.
Love is the most effective tool a revolutionary can use.
Look at Martin Luther King, Jr. and his nonviolent resistance.
He had a love for his fellow man — black or white — and he changed the world.
Mother Theresa used love to help the sick and dying in Calcutta.
And to Christians, Jesus used love to save the whole of humanity.
Love is a world-shattering, earth-shaking concept.
Love takes what we know of the world and flips it right on its head.
Love means, first and foremost, that we would be willing to die to serve and live our lives for something outside of ourselves.
I think we all know the selflessness aspect of love in theory, but rarely do we allow it to take us down the road it leads.
Selfless love tells us to consider any and all people better than ourselves.
A great example of selfless love is found in romantic relationships.
I remember someone telling me we should reconsider the focus of romance and finding “the one.”
He said we should seek to serve someone for the rest of our lives and maybe we’d find someone who had the same idea.
It’s been a few years since I heard that, but it sticks in my mind to this very day.
Seek to serve and you just might find someone who’s looking to do the same.
Imagine a relationship built on that foundation.
Envision a relationship that looks like that.
Picture your relationship like that.
What would it look like?
What would you do differently?
How would you change as a person?
The simple idea of service can transform worlds.
Romantic relationships are just the beginning, although they are a good place to start.
Imagine with me, if you will, a world focused on serving others, not ourselves.
I think social action would be a huge part of the new world based on selfless love.
A love that asks us to forsake our own needs and to treat others’ needs as more important than our own.
With half of the world living on less than $2 a day, it demands a whole lot from us.
If we want to live in a truly selfless love, we have to be willing to give up some of the unnecessary niceties of middle-class American life.
Instead of spending ridiculous amounts of money on high-definition TVs, snazzy cars, or the latest gadgets, selfless love asks us to give our money to those who truly need it.
This love demands the most from those who have the most — in other words, you and me.
Some might say I’m too much of a dreamer, but I hope the harshness of this life never makes me stop dreaming of how to change the world.
Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Change begins with one person — you.
Go. Change the world.
It’s up to no one else but you.
Jakob is a senior studying mass communication.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum