I remember watching on television a Saturday night show called Live at the Apollo, in which the MC would always introduce an entertainer by stating “Show Your Love” as the person or group can on stage. The audience would then give a big round of applause. On Valentine’s Day and other times, we easily say “I love you” and often give something as a symbol of that love such as flowers or candy. However, love really is more about action than words. Actions can affirm the words, but the words without the real action seem to be questionable as really representing the presence of love.
Two key components of real love are unity and commitment. We may not say that a military unit, a community, or a nation “love” each other in the sense that a husband and wife would. However, the unity and commitment of these carry us through when life gets tough.
In his book The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw noted that during World War II, the United States was one – in unity and commitment not really seen since that time. We can see unity of communities at times that an external force tries to harm the community, such as a large city trying to annex a smaller town.
This past weekend, the unity and commitment among Veterans in the VFW was shown to save the day for a brother who had died on Thursday night with his funeral being on Sunday. In a matter of a few hours, fellow VFW members in two Meridian posts and the Quitman post came together, primarily by telephone, to arrange all that was needed for his funeral and burial two days later. It was the weekend, but comrades in arms pushed regular life aside for time to pay our last respects to a brother Veteran.
Love does that – love gives priority action to what really matters.
