A December challenge for you.
Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.
--Love Actually
I've been meaning to do this for a while, but man, time flies, doesn't it? The "Secret Snaps Cup" meme that queenofthorns hosted a while back got me thinking. If you missed that, it was an anonymous love meme, basically, and I think it hit the max number of comments in the span of, I dunno, 24 hours or so? This told me two things: a lot of us want love, and a lot of us are willing to give it. And one person's journal ain't enough to hold it all.
It's the holiday season. And even if you don’t celebrate the holidays, it's winter, and it's dark (well, OK, unless you're in the southern hemisphere, but GIVE ME A BREAK HERE, OK, I'm trying to make a point), and it's a time for warmth and companionship. It's a time, in short, for love. For telling the people in your life what you love about them. For taking the time and making the effort to put your feelings into words. For me, honestly, that's the greatest gift someone can give me, and I'm guessing a lot of other people feel the same way. Most of us around here don't exactly seem to mind attention :), and hey-we all deserve it once in a while.
So here's my challenge to myself and to you, LJ: sometime during the month of December, leave a comment of love for at least one person. A friend, someone you've admired from afar, whatever. (If you want to expand this concept to your RL, non-LJ friends and family, more power to you.) The comment can be anonymous or not, it's up to you. I, personally, kind of like the anonymity thing because a) it removes any obligation that the recipient might feel to reciprocate and b) the recipient can imagine it's from whoever s/he wants, which is sort of nice. But however you choose to do it, just do it. LJ is fundamentally a selfish thing-this is MY journal, MY thoughts, I can write whatever I want-but it's also a community populated by some pretty amazing people. So take a few minutes to acknowledge that.
Personally, I believe that there's never a bad time to give someone a compliment, and you can never do it too much. (Well, unless it's accompanied by stalking or creepy hair-stroking or something. I wouldn't recommend that.) So. Go forth and love! 'Tis the season.
--Love Actually
I've been meaning to do this for a while, but man, time flies, doesn't it? The "Secret Snaps Cup" meme that queenofthorns hosted a while back got me thinking. If you missed that, it was an anonymous love meme, basically, and I think it hit the max number of comments in the span of, I dunno, 24 hours or so? This told me two things: a lot of us want love, and a lot of us are willing to give it. And one person's journal ain't enough to hold it all.
It's the holiday season. And even if you don’t celebrate the holidays, it's winter, and it's dark (well, OK, unless you're in the southern hemisphere, but GIVE ME A BREAK HERE, OK, I'm trying to make a point), and it's a time for warmth and companionship. It's a time, in short, for love. For telling the people in your life what you love about them. For taking the time and making the effort to put your feelings into words. For me, honestly, that's the greatest gift someone can give me, and I'm guessing a lot of other people feel the same way. Most of us around here don't exactly seem to mind attention :), and hey-we all deserve it once in a while.
So here's my challenge to myself and to you, LJ: sometime during the month of December, leave a comment of love for at least one person. A friend, someone you've admired from afar, whatever. (If you want to expand this concept to your RL, non-LJ friends and family, more power to you.) The comment can be anonymous or not, it's up to you. I, personally, kind of like the anonymity thing because a) it removes any obligation that the recipient might feel to reciprocate and b) the recipient can imagine it's from whoever s/he wants, which is sort of nice. But however you choose to do it, just do it. LJ is fundamentally a selfish thing-this is MY journal, MY thoughts, I can write whatever I want-but it's also a community populated by some pretty amazing people. So take a few minutes to acknowledge that.
Personally, I believe that there's never a bad time to give someone a compliment, and you can never do it too much. (Well, unless it's accompanied by stalking or creepy hair-stroking or something. I wouldn't recommend that.) So. Go forth and love! 'Tis the season.