My son was married about a week ago. As a matter of some coincidence, they chose
to be married at the Speakeasy - a place connected to our speaker's businessincubator. I hope it works as well for
young couples as it does for young businesses.
The occasion of their marriage offered me time to
reflect on love. Of all the emotions it
is the most difficult to explain. The
Apostle Paul wrote: "For there are these three things that endure: Faith,
Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love."
I've set many goals in my life and achieved some
success, but the achievement of which I am most proud is being married for 37
years. A life of love shared with my
wife.
Our love has changed through the years - the
Greeks were the first to determined there were four types of love. And I believe you can find all of them on
display here today at Rotary:
Affection: We meet every week, sharing greetings,
genuinely interested in listening to each other and doing business on the
square. You may not think this is love
but of the four kinds it is the most natural and widely experienced. An affection for nature, a cause, and a
curiosity is love. What soul could
thrive apart from that?
Friendship: The old saying: "Make new
friends, cherish the old. One is silver the
other gold" isn't an old saying here.
It's a part of our four way test; a pledge we make not to Rotary . . .
but to each other. Friendship is Chicken
Soup for your soul. When you greet each other today consider it an opportunity
to create a friendship that could last a lifetime.
Romance: Part nature but to this engineer's mind
mostly mystery. Easier to witness than
explain; in full view at my son's wedding and - at my wedding and at your
wedding. Romance allows you to fall in
love but land on clouds. Romance is
rewarded with caring, acceptance and fulfillment - so why don't we have more of
it?
Charity: We gather today under a banner of
service above self. Unselfish love
focused on bettering the world - but at the same time - ourselves. Anne Frank said: “No one has ever become poor
by giving.”
So be more in love today...practice all the
different kinds: Affection, Friendship, Romance and Charity. There probably isn't enough love in the world
so commit yourself to making more of it today.
