Love is the Movement

This close to Valentine's Day, everyone has got romance on the brain. Roses, chocolates, teddy bears, dinner dates, it's become part of the culture. However, I experienced something today that reminded me that love is so much more than that.

I was at work in the church office when my boss Jay's wife called. Jay was out of the office for a moment, so I answered his cell phone, knowing it was his wife. She told me that something was happening at Baker Center (OU's multi-million dollar, 1-year-old student center for all you non-Athens folks) and that it had been evacuated and there was caution tape blocking off the entrance. A simple fire alarm, which we seem to have too many of here, wouldn't cause all that, but I didn't make any speculations. A little while later Katie #1 called me to tell me that the reason Baker Center had been evacuated was because there was a guy threatening to jump from the 5th floor to the 1st floor (again for all you non-Athens folk, the building has open floors, so at one small point, you can stand on the 1st floor and see all the way up through 5 floors to the ceiling- it's open like that because of the escalators). She said that police were inside trying to reason with him, but a group of people outside had formed an impromptu prayer circle, and some people were writing notes to the guy. These were notes of love to a person that most of the people outside the building had never met. They expressed their care for him, that even though he felt alone, he was still loved and taking his own life was not the way to deal with his problems. That was so encouraging to me.

What was even more remarkable was that when I got home a few hours later and was surfing Facebook, I stumbled upon an event called "Love is the Movement." The event page talked about the high depression rates in America, especially by teens, that often leads to suicide, especially this time of year. The event was sort of inspired by a group called "To Write Love on Her Arms" or TWLOHA. Beginning on Feb. 13, the day before Valentine's Day, people in support of this cause will physically write the word LOVE on their arms to show support and, most importantly, love, to people who believe that they no longer have any. I was so baffled that I found this event on the same day that a person on my campus was threatening suicide, and perhaps was dissuaded by notes and signs of love from people he had never even met. I can't describe how encouraging that is to me, to get out there and show love, even to people that I don't know, and that this group and this event had found such a great way to start it.

Think about it. If you have LOVE written on your arms in huge letters, how much of a conversation starter is that? Maybe one of the people who asks you about it is a person who is really needing some love in their life, and maybe you can be the first to show them that love knows no boundaries.

I think The Beatles summed it up best: "All you need is love."