Joe Gentry

May is graduation time at most colleges and June the same for most high schools. A couple of years ago, I was fortunate to be asked to address the graduates at Alpena Community College. The goal was to keep it short and simple. Much to my astonishment, I received requests post-graduation ceremony for copies of the address. Rummaging through some old files, I ran across a copy of that talk and felt that it might be a good time to re-share this message:

Take a deep breath. Now say the word Love out loud. Now imagine you are talking to one of your closest and most admired peers. Can you utter the word Love with the same ease, without embarrassment or self-consciousness? Why are we so awkward about speaking and feeling this, the single most important word in any language?

In an adult world, mention the concept of Love in an organization, workplace or non-romantic relationship and you will most likely encounter a group of people who think you are from another planet. Yet in their hearts they know that the proposition “we need less fear and more Love” is just too obvious to debate. After all, this is neither rocket science nor a new idea ­– Aristotle said, “Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from Love.”

I’ve observed society and organizations, and it seems that the more dysfunctional the group, the more resistant to the concept of Love. What baggage is it that we drag around behind us, like Linus and his blanket, which causes us to be so wounded and pathological? Why are we blind to the observable truth that those we lead and those that are around us are yearning for us to open our hearts? Why are we in denial about the truth that people — all people, at work, at home, or at play — are searching for signs of our approval and Love?

The word Love is the sweetest sound in any language. I don’t mean romantic Love, but the kind of Love the ancient Greeks referred to as agape. Agape means love for humankind, caring and seeking for the highest good of another person without motive for personal gain. Or the kind of love described by the ancient Sanskrit word metta, which means loving kindness. This is the kind of love that makes our hearts beat, inspires people and illuminates our lives.

A devotional writer once said, “Sometimes you just know. It happens a couple times each year. Sitting at a dinner table surrounded by faces you’ve loved for as long as they have lived. Conversation rises and falls and the power of love you feel for the beauty of each one overtakes you. They will live on after you are gone, and when the day grows near, you will want one last time to speak out the love mere words cannot tell. So, what about you? What untold love strains the seams of you heart? Sink into it until you ache for the souls for whom you would give your very self.”

Love is the force that creates everything that is good on this planet. Love isn’t something to be embarrassed by or joked about. Yet it is the single word more likely than any other to guarantee perplexity and make people uncomfortable when used outside of family or romantic settings. It is word that many associate with the hippie culture of the 1960s, granola bars and Birkenstock sandals. Yet deep in all our hearts, we all want more Love.

Fellow graduates, my petition is for each of us is to lead and to Love more. Care more. Seek the highest good in all people. Let Love illuminate your life and take your heart with you in all that you do!

Satis. Thank you.

Joe Gentry is the executive director of the United Way of Northeast Michigan. Reach him at 989-354-2221 or jgentry@unitedwaynemi.org.