The Village ILWIDIot

Walt Wiltschek 

“Do your best to improve your faith by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love.” —2 Peter 1:5-7, CEV 

I find words hard to come by these days. Much seems to be amiss at various levels of life, and the nouns, verbs, and adjectives I’d usually employ often don’t seem up to the task. 

Most notably, of course, the recent war with Iran and the rippling effects in the Middle East and beyond have been filling the daily news, alongside another election season, immigration concerns, our own church challenges, illnesses and loss, and much more. 

So I’m turning to others’ words for inspiration. Lately I’ve been re-reading Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie—probably the best of his many titles (though I also particularly enjoy Have a Little Faith, and I’m intrigued by his new book, Twice). In Tuesdays with Morrie, Albom makes regular visits to his old professor, Morrie Schwartz, who is slowly dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) but still dispensing advice on living well.

During one visit, Morrie recalls a quote from his favorite poet, W.H. Auden: “Love each other or perish.” The actual original line from Auden—written in 1939 during the build-up to World War II—was perhaps even more stark: “We must love one another or die.” 

Auden reportedly later disavowed these words, perhaps feeling them too simplistic or sentimental or seeing that love did not, in fact, prevent great suffering and death during the years of war. Yet the words have endured and become meaningful for generations since. 

One literary scholar, pondering the controversy, concluded that “the line as originally written is at least partly true—unless we become more altruistic, we will destroy ourselves.” 

Have we forgotten how to love well? Are altruism and compassion indeed perishing, and our humanity along with them? Is that why we bomb our neighbors, readily separate from anyone who doesn’t fully agree with us, or try to exclude those who don’t “fit”? 

A recent statement on Iran from Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele said, “In line with our discipleship to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace … I urge Brethren everywhere to work and pray for peace.” 

In that same spirit, I’d encourage us to work and pray with love. It might be simplistic. It might be sentimental. It might not prevent pain. But it’s a start. And sometimes that’s all we have. As Morrie later concludes: “Which side wins? Love wins. Love always wins.”