Are you ready for Love?

I know Elton John kinda already coined that one (and that was my Freshers year at Uni song - along with Electric 6 'Danger Danger' - but i digress MASSIVELY!)

I have been thinking a lot lately about how ready for Love people are? In the work that I do for Diversity and Inclusion there are always going to be people who disagree with the way i think and the way i do things.

And i am fine with that. Truly i am. If you want a truly Inclusive world then the very diverse nature of humanity means that nuance and difference are essential.

What i find truly difficult is the fact that some people only wish to be unified by hatred. Hating something/someone can really galvinise certain folk. Just think about the anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigns or the 'All Lives Matter' brigade. They are coming together, but they are only coming together in unison to accommodate a common hatred.

What I am striving for is for people to move towards things together. To come together in celebration of humanity and it's differences. I will never agree that Nottingham Forest are superior to Derby County. I will also never agree that West Life are the best boy band of all time (#backstreetboys) and there is just no shifting me from my position that Double Denim was anything but sinful. OK, I may be a tad light hearted there but the meaning of my glib list seeks to throw light on the idea that having different opinions is not the devil. The hatred of others based purely upon their identity, expression, appearance, language, heritage, culture, colour or ability is wrong. Yes i said it - that is wrong.

We have to be able to love others even for the sharp edges and the hard corners. This is not easy, because there are some people who really are not ready for love. The only way we can hope to get them closer to the table is by caring to learn of them. If we unite in our disgust for their views and actions then we only fuel their fire and unification in the hatred against. So in order to make everyone really ready for LOVE we have to more TOWARDS not against.

Are you with me?

xx Fliss xx