As a highschool English trainer (of 39 years) I used to attract on the chalkboard an enormous coronary heart with the inscription, in giant letters, Pleased VD. Clearly this had the specified impact — a dialogue of affection and a warning towards unprotected “free love.”  The phrase “love” has many many meanings. Let’s look at some.

To fashionable People, love is an emotional state a lot to be desired. It conjures up visions of two thirty-somethings with two younger youngsters. Implied are: bodily attraction, compatibility, household and happiness. All nicely and good, however let’s take a look at the massive image. 

The medieval Catholic church differentiated between two kinds of love, in Latin, “caritas” and “cupiditas.” The primary, “caritas,” offers us the phrase “charity.” There abideth these three, religion, hope, and charity, and the best of those is love.”  Christian love, love of fellow man, love of 1’s neighbor as oneself.  The second time period, “cupiditas” has extra cupid in it.  It’s outlined as need, for earthly issues.  It’s not simply bodily need; it’s need for wine, worldly possessions, earthly pleasures of all kinds.

So there’s the essential alternative, love of others or love of self-gratification with earthly emotions. 

Twenty years in the past we moved into our pretty Suffolk neighborhood and really quickly realized what a bath of affection we had fallen into. Ours is a culturally various neighborhood the place all people is aware of all people’s names, and the names of all people’s youngsters and the grandkids and even the pets. Of us cease and go to and chat in yards and on entrance porches. It’s really a group of parents who love their neighbors as themselves. We share gardens, nice meals, joys, and sorrows. We assist one another with nearly all the pieces. It’s old fashioned. 

These 20 years later, it truly is old fashioned. Most of us are retired now, a few of us are getting older out of doing issues we have been as soon as capable of do — all of the extra motive to drag collectively. Not too long ago and extra incessantly, a lot of neighbors are placing on their wings and flying off to heaven. So these of us nonetheless right here verify extra incessantly on those that are ailing and sadly we’re assembly extra typically at funeral properties. These are all milestones of residing and loving and being a part of a loving group.  

The intense facet of all that is that life and love go on. Younger households are shifting in and bringing new life to our road. They’re having infants they usually’re refurbishing  homes; a brand new vitality is right here. They’ve been welcomed with open arms, home warmings, child showers and all of the love and care this neighborhood has to supply.  We’re glad they’re right here to share the love and maintain it going lengthy after the remainder of us are gone they usually’re the previous people of the neighborhood. We’re passing the “love baton” within the nice race of life.

Susan and Bradford “Biff” Andrews are retired academics and grasp naturalists who’ve been out of doors folks all their lives, exploring and having fun with the woods, swamps, rivers and seashores all through the area for a few years. E mail them at b.andrews22@reside.com.

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