Secret Weapon

Love encompasses so many different thoughts and feelings that using it in our language could become almost meaningless. Almost, but not quite, because it still has deep meaning. Conveyed in a certain tone of voice, or with a particular kind of look, it has been known to melt hearts colder than Antarctica in the dead of winter.

It is the secret weapon behind harsh actions and punishments. It is the extra softness behind quiet words. It is the breath that blows unease across a million fractured souls, bringing comfort in spite of it all.

There is even something in the way it sounds that makes it uniquely sensual and touching. Curling up both sides of the tongue to make that "L" is like orally hugging the word and object it adores.

In the "Madeleine films," little girls sit at a large table and say grace. "We love our bread. We love our butter, but most of all, we love each other."

It is the way we are supposed to feel.

Without love my world would be so much different. It is my key to being content and peaceful, even happy. Without it, I am a shell of a person. With it, I am full to bursting with a warmth that fills me whenever I see the sweetness inside someone, or hear the song of a heart in full tune, and the only difference is in the amount of love that flows through me.

But who's to say a little love is not just as great as a lot?