Using What I've Got

​I have written about love before.  A few times I think.  I reckon there are worse things I could write about.
Yet love is such an all-encompassing word.  I love music. I also love my wife.  They are different types of love.  It is to be hoped so anyway.  It would be sad if my love for my wife just evoked fleeting feelings which like when the music is over are gone.  By the same token it would be sad if my love for music evoked in me the same response as my love for my wife and family.  It would be rightly claimed “there is something wrong with that boy.”
I also love me mates and I know romantic love.  These are not the same, yet one word describes it.  Love.  It seems guys in particular are uncomfortable with the love of a mate.  It is one of those unsaid things.  Guys would rather talk about the footy.
It is probably just a product of our society, but I have heard of love expressed between two guy friends and I felt uncomfortable.  There was no reason to be, but these days it seems romantic love is emphasized big time and it tends to colour my perception of love.
Whatever sort of love it is it seems the giving sort is best.  We are seeing a bit of it at this time.  It is love which cannot be reciprocated.  Like getting goodies for housebound people.  Or passing forward a coffee.  Or making a meal for those on the front line.  It is not giving to get, it is giving because I can and it is right.  Helping others.
What I love about love is that maybe the highest form of love is a bridge too far for me but expressing what love I know is a good start.  I remember hearing from a guy who had been a bodyguard for someone.  The person he was protecting said, “I like that you would take a bullet for me.”  His response was “no I wouldn’t.”  The person he was protecting did not elicit that sort of loyalty.  He would fight for him, and protect him, but he would not die for him.
It is easy for me to pontificate about something, but it is a different thing when the rubber meets the road.  That is the time that shows if I am willing to more than just talk the talk but to walk the walk.  I can declare my willingness, but when it comes time to prove it, I can run away.  The good thing for me is that I do not need to make that decision for someone else.  I need to make it for myself only.  I don’t need something until I need it.  What matters is that although I am not there yet, I am willing.  I am a work in progress.  Some love I find easy.  Some I find hard.  Using what I’ve got is a good start.