We live in exciting and momentous days. The best time of human existence is now. There has never been a time of so much prosperity. More resources are available for a greater number of people than have ever existed in the history of our species.
Except, there is an elusive problem of a global lack of respect for human life.
All the major problems of humanity narrow down to one thing—a very misguided definition and application of “love.”
What leads individuals to make the concept of “love” so complex? If a person’s definition of “love” only amounts to their personal preference, then it is hateful and narcissistic. You love your soulmate, family, friends, career, business, and country, and you are confident in who you are and love and respect yourself.
This is all good stuff, right? No, not so much. Vladimir Putin, a self-proclaimed Christian, obviously loves and respects himself, yet he has also murdered thousands of innocent, unarmed Ukrainian Christians. Putin demonstrated his Christian “love” by bombing a Ukrainian church on Easter Sunday.
Putin hails from a culture of Soviet “love.” The government of the Soviet Union murdered 62,000,000 people. The communist government of China murdered 35,000,000 people. The government of Nazi Germany murdered 21,000,000 people. The government of nationalist China murdered 10,000,000 people.
Lesser murderers include the government of WWII Japan, the government of WWI Turkey, communist Vietnam, post-WWII Poland, the government of Pakistan, and the communist government of Yugoslavia. The Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia killed over 30 percent of their countrymen in less than four years. The best predictor of murderers is their access to dictatorial political power.
Ali Hosseini Khamenei, a Muslim imam serving as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989, is a lover of Allah (God). While Khamenei’s estimated net worth is $95 billion, he lives a modest life, enjoys gardening, “loves” his wife and six children, is a musician and gifted singer, and “loves” to fund Hamas terrorists to rape women and children in the name of Allah (God) and manufacture and fund the production of tens of thousands of rockets and Scud missiles to fearmonger and murder Israeli Jews in the name of Allah (God). On June 19th, 2025, Khamenei demonstrated his definition of Muslim “love” by firing a missile at one of Israel’s main hospitals.
Governments, especially absolutist regimes, have murdered nearly 170,000,000 people under the pretense of politics, which is simply another form of “undefined love.”
Wouldn’t it be fascinating to flip on cameras and ask leaders like Putin, Khamenei, Kim Jong, Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump to define and demonstrate their definitions of “love” for the rest of us?
As for my definition of love, it is characterized by acts of giving and caring that show that we are all members of the same human family. Children are the ultimate source of unconditional love. Children give everything they have to love their fathers and mothers. The precious and beautiful love of every child is worth nurturing and protecting. Imagine if all world leaders understood and protected the sanctity and purity of love as the inherent reality of all humans. It’s inherent human love that leads to virtue.
The dream of universal love is only elusive to those who lack the capacity to care for others more than they love or prefer themselves. Humanity needs a new definition of love that serves everyone equally, not rich CEOs, hateful religious leaders, or politicians who serve themselves at the cost of others.