there is a tribe i am active within on occasion called unconditional love, and it is about precisely what you would think from its name. tonight, someone asked about ‘how easy or hard’ it is to really provide such a thing. many responses, most of which were touching. this, mine, set there and brought here because eyeore insists on it.
there is someone in particular who has been very cruel, very hurtful, very cold, very ugly to me. so much so that i doubt very seriously i could ever have more than very, very brief interactions with them whatever unless i wish to be hurt again and again by them. this is a person i love wholeheartedly and without reservation. i love them for the person i know they want so much to be, i love them for the person they have on occasion managed to be, and i love them for the person that they are, even though being that person has injured and damaged me in very real ways.
in many ways, i am actually thankful that the damage and injury came to me. this meant it was not inflicted upon themselves. that may sound odd, but i was strong enough to take that hurt and i do not think they would have been had it been turned inward.
this isn’t to say there were not moments when the pain of it did not anger me. it is not to say there were not moments in which i had to fight very hard indeed not to hurt them right back. and sadly, there were moments in which i failed at that internal fighting and did so.
but… even here, now, right here as i type this, i love this person. and no matter how many years go by, if ever they call out to me, i will be there. even though it may hurt. because i love them.
sometimes i think it is harder to love someone who has hurt you than someone you find to be evil. when you see someone just not care that they have injured you, that can make it very hard indeed. but i can testify that it is not impossible.