Craigslist Love

I never utilized Craigslist really until I heard about how people were using it extensively after Hurricane Katrina. And now I am an avid fan, especially of their free section. Careful though, it is addicting.

Anyway, I put up a post the other day on Craigslist inviting others to our Turkey in the Park event and it was cool that three complete strangers then e-mailed me and wished us good luck. One of the e-mails stirred my thoughts a bit because the woman wrote: "Just wanted to say that you are doing an awesome thing here!@!! Keep up the good work. The world needs more people like you and your friends!!"

Kudos to all. That was a nice thing to say.

This got me thinking about a post that Daniel shared a while back with a quote from Mother Teresa, who says, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love" This woman's compliment to us was very nice and I received it, but part of me is really thinking that we are not doing anything amazing or giant like building a person a house, but simply finding ways to act out love in such practical ways. So there is nothing heroic about our efforts per se because they are simple expressions of love (or rightness, kindness, however you want to say it...). And it does not take a rocket scientist, philosopher, or doctor to love in such a way. The thing is that love is not something that only the gifted folks in soceity can do, as if it was bound by education, background, age, political party, or socio-economic stature. Love is ordinary and normal people like you and me and the woman who e-mailed me are the ones to carry the torch of ordinary love in our culture and society in simply ways. Maybe though love is uncommon sometimes and so it seems out of the ordinary then to love.

It sounds like such a line from a beauty pageant to say that "we need more love in the world (and world peace too, huh)", but maybe there is something to that. I wonder then how today that love can show up in our lives as we go about our business. How can I be a loving person in soceity today? How can you? What does it look like to strip away the vagueness of the term "love" and find specific ways to be loving today in our own spheres of influence?