Love: A Discussion about Stereotyping

Next to the Jesus Camp discussion I participated in back in July, the discussion I had with a group of people last night at Jacob's Well was, quite possibly, the best conversation I've ever had. In fact, I believe it trumps the JC conversation, quite easily.

Because I entered the conversation late I sat and listened for the first 15 minutes or so, as good social etiquette. They then started another conversation based around the question, "How did stereotyping become so prevalent in American society?"
Origins (I think, for Americans, it's an immigration thing, for humans as a whole, it's categorizing so we can function),
led to a distinction between good and bad uses of stereotyping,
which lead to "what can we do about the negative,"
which came to, "a change in focus isn't enough."
what needs to happen? the conclusion: acceptance
how can we become a people that accept? a change in heart to "everyone is worthy and valuable"
how does a change in heart come about? experience
experience what? love, acceptance
why is experiencing love and acceptance so important? more able to love

At roughly this point in the conversation people started to share stories of how they had never experienced real love and how one relationship or two totally changed that. The stories of hurt, neglect, abuse are heart-breakingly beautiful. I call them beautiful because I believe, firmly, that a messy misery can and will be redeemed. And these people spoke of the hurt and confusion... but then of the redemption of the thought they they could receive love... real, unconditioned love.. and that hope and belief was born in a relationship.

And perhaps the most amazing thing about this conversation is that we were not all Christians. Yet we could go nowhere beyond the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth: Love one another. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. In the company of wiccans, athiests, agnostics, christians, and a few other belief systems, I'm sure, people felt safe enough to bare their soul for a moment and in that, we were united: we've all been hurt. And love, we decided, is truly the answer!