One love refers to the universal love and respect expressed by all people for all people, regardless of race, creed, or color. —The Urban Dictionary

Anne McCarthy writes: “I realized that the universe is constantly whispering words of love: expressions of pure joy, respect, loyalty, and sacrifice for someone other than ourselves, and instructions on letting go and focusing on what is most important in this world”.

Her remark could not be more poignant today as we face an opportunity to either open the doors and embrace others different from ourselves or build a wall and shut the door. We are at a critical time in history in which more and more democracies including our own are struggling to keep intolerance, injustice and hate out of becoming who we are. With the rise of politicians and people breeding hatred and intolerance of others based on gender, religion, sex and ethnicity, it frightens me. I wonder what kind of world my children will live in. One of ignorance and hate or one of acceptance and love. It is a scary time in history.

Without getting too political or depressing, I wanted to share with you what my belief is in “one love”. Why I believe that we should open our doors to others instead of turn away. The world is an amazing place and a huge part of what makes it so incredibly magical is us. All of us. Not just the white, catholic christians. Everyone. Black, brown, yellow, white. Jewish, Muslim. Christian, Buddhist or atheist. All of us.

That is what one love means.

This post was inspired by the Weekly Photo Challenge: One Love.