If there were a single most important message to convey to your children before you passed on from this life, what would it be? For me the answer is a simple, but complex one…the message would be love.

The Way We Treat Others
So where is the complexity in the message of love? The catch is found in describing what love is. The love that I would want my children to learn about is not as simple as an affectionate feeling or high regard for someone. Love, as I would describe it, is a manner of treating others which results from everything that a person has embraced in their character. Love is a simple thing to feel and share, but it is a complex attribute to adequately describe. Love is a gift to share with others. It is shaped by everything we experience in life. Love is the essence of who we are.

The Uniqueness of Love
In order to define love in the framework of all that it is, there would be a need for a description of every aspect of one’s character as it pertains to love. I will not elaborate on every component, but I will present some of the attributes of love and character that I consider to be most important. Everyone understands love in their own unique way. Love can never have exactly the same meaning for one person as it does for another, because everyone has different experiences in life, and the interpretation of those experiences in regard to love are unique to the individual.

Sharing Personal Views
The ideas presented here are my opinions about love as I would describe it to my children and others. It is perfectly acceptable and even desirable for others to have views that differ from mine about what love is; but I would like to express what I have come to know of the meaning of love to my family, because it is impossible to know when it may be too late to do so. I would like to convey without ambiguity what I have come to believe about the meaning of love.

It is my opinion that there is nothing more important to share in life than one’s personal beliefs and feelings about love. While there are many additional important attributes that apply to character and love than are described here, the following list contains several aspects that I feel are the most important. While the list is rather lengthy, I hope a few of these ideas will be of value to you.

Important Attributes of Character and Love

Accountability: Good men are bound by conscience and liberated by accountability.

Acceptance: We must always accept others as equals, but we must not always equal their actions. We are all equally capable of abiding by conscience, but our deeds often suggest otherwise.

Adversity: Measure two men of equal height: one always successful; the other in continuous adversity and fighting through failure, and the latter will always stand taller.

Affection: Tokens of affection ease the wariness of time.

Attention: Show as much interest in what your children tell you as they have in telling you.

Caring: Caring is opening the heart, exposing it to coldness and warmth, to the point of breakage and mending again – all the while, building it stronger than ever before.

Change: Never give up on the soul beaten down, though the distance be far away. For even in darkness, a soul-searching eye can again see the light of day.

Charity: The true glory of standing on top is the ability to lift others higher.

Commitment: There is no better asset, nor worse liability than one’s personal level of commitment.

Compassion: Compassion conquers without casualties.

Compromise: When all roads lead to the same destination, never assume that yours is the only way.

Conscience: In an upright walk of conscience, there is the least chance of a fall.

Courage: Courage is willing action from a body with a mind screaming no.

Credibility: Credibility is like glass. It is strong until it is broken, and then it is almost impossible to repair.

Discipline: Discipline is the long and arduous process of convincing the mind to follow conscience.

Dreams: Every dream in your heart is a prize you must claim. Keep your dreams in your sights with unshakeable aim.

Example: All that you do and all that you see, whether good or bad is an example to someone. Consider your actions always, for they may be the saving grace or downfall of another.

Fairness: Fairness is mankind’s ability to rise above his prejudices.

Family: Family is a collective expression of individual perspectives – a living work of art.

Forgiveness: Grudges are dark dungeons of your mind for which forgiveness is your only escape.

Fun: The saddest things we fail at are fun things we fail to do, so in your busy day be sure to plan some fun things too.

Gratitude: Saying thank you now will frequently prevent saying sorry later.

Honesty: Lies are like garbage that you can’t throw away. They clutter your life, foul your air, and make living unbearable.

Jealousy: Jealousy is the fire of envy that seeks to destroy another’s beauty, rather than creating its own.

Kindness: The simplest kindness is the difference between a day fulfilled and a day wasted.

Mercy: In every advantage over another consider the possibility that mercy may be the most powerful course of action. 

Mistakes: The only failure in a mistake is the failure to learn a lesson.

Optimism: Pessimists beat their heads against walls, while optimists open doors.

Passion: Passion is the ability to soar with nothing but heart.
 
Patience: Patience without purpose is procrastination. Be sure you know what you’re waiting for.

Perseverance: Difficult challenges are consistently overcome by willingness to adapt and refusal to quit.

Potential: Never let the bounds of your accomplishments preclude you from attaining the discovery of your potential.

Priorities: It is impossible to order your priorities until they include your family.

Respect: Everyone deserves respect until proven otherwise.

Responsibility: Be willing to act when a need calls your name. Have the courage to win or to lose just the same. Share a smile in success. Bear the blame when your wrong. Learn to stand for your deeds and you’ll learn to be strong.

Talents: Great talents lie within you if you care to search them out. Your gifts await discovery, of this there is no doubt. Work hard to find your talents, and make them a part of you. For talents are the tools you need to make your dreams come true.

Temptation: Avoid temptation when you can…fight it when you must; but never assume that you can linger within its reaches without being made its slave.

Trust: The most important consideration in finding someone to trust is being someone to trust.

Virtue: In the search for virtue, one must only follow conscience.



Who We Are
Love is a combination of many things that compose our character and define who we are. Love is the essence of what we make of ourselves in our qualities, values, and beliefs. Love is the beauty of our relationships with others. It is shaped uniquely by the vast variety of experiences that we are exposed to in life and how we come to accept them. 

Feelings of Love
Love is the most important gift that we can ever share with others. What a shame it would be to pass from this life without sharing all of what we have come to know about love with others. While the thoughts I have shared here only touch  upon what love means to me, they are a summary of the most important aspects of love that I have come to know. You may find it beneficial to develop a list of your own, to express your own unique feelings of love.

A Better World
There is much need among mankind for a greater understanding and sharing of love. As a world, we are capable of helping and uplifting one another in ways that have only been dreamed of until now. Technology has brought us closer together than ever before. We have the opportunity to use these exciting methods of interaction to improve our world and relationships to people everywhere. We have the chance to love one another with the beauty of all that we make of ourselves. The world can be a better and more peaceful place for all of us if we can learn to share the love that is within us.

While the ideas expressed here are simply my personal feelings of love, I hope they have been of some value to you. This is one way that I am able to share my love with others. I hope you will share your love in a similar manner with those who are important to you.

Related Articles:

What is Love: Love means different things to different people, but the most commonly held belief about love is that it is highly desired, cherished, and in fact needed by everyone.

How to Forgive: If we are to be found of love, we must all learn to forgive.