...or you could love

A Director we're in contact with always puts ".... or you could love." at the bottom of his emails.

I didn't get it, so asked him what it meant.

He explained that it's a line from a Marillion song, 'A few words for the dead' which was mainly inspired by Bosnia but also about how we pass on grudges and hatred from generation to generation. It offers up an alternative ... simply to love one another.

The lyrics go like this:

Can you make it your own
Can you take it by the throat
Make your own luck, learn the skills
Get in early for the kill

It carries on

Pick up the weapon
Marry it, give it your name
Define yourself by it
Take it down 'the disco

Trigger happy, pulling power
Lady killer, take 'em out
See the weirdos on the hill
Come to get you if you stand still

It carries on

Somewhere in history you were wronged
Teach your children to bang the drum
Tell all your family, tell all your friends
Teach your brothers to avenge

It carries on

Or you could love
You could love

Lie down in the flowers
In the blue of the air
Open your eyes
Why use up your life for anything else?
No need to fight for what everyone has
What do you need?
It's already there
It's already there

You could love

So he carried the stars in his pocket
Drank the sunrise till he was drunk
He embraced the angels
They swam like little minnows in his blood
Ghosts in his eyes
Out walking beside him
Laughing like children in his mind
They chanted his mantra together

You could love

They were happy

I was quite challenged by the thought of it, really. The idea that we can choose to get angry, lash out, bear a grudge etc. OR we can just choose to love. I know it's obvious, but how often do we consciously choose to simply love someone when the normal, accepted reaction is entirely the opposite?

Forgiving and then loving people can sometime be the hardest choice we make ... whilst at the same time the greatest thing we do...