To "Love" And To "Embrace"

Just now, I hugged my mother, and I thought how it wasn't just a hug; it was an embrace. To "embrace" literally means to "Hold (someone) closely in one's arms, especially as a sign of affection," which is what I was doing, but it also means to "Accept or support (a belief, theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically" (source), which I was also doing. I accept and support my mother willingly and enthusiastically, at least some of the time. I should support her more often, and I should do it more willingly and enthusiastically, but I hope that she can feel the love I have for her in the form of my acceptance and support of her.

Yet, I'm not fully sure we should love everyone that way. There are many people who would love to have their beliefs and their behaviors, their ideologies and their lifestyles, accepted and supported by everyone excitedly and enthusiastically (if not willingly). Yet, not every belief and ideology should be accepted. Not every behavior and lifestyle should be supported. We should love everyone, but that doesn't always mean accepting and supporting them. If someone's beliefs or behaviors are destructive to themselves or others, it may be more loving to urge them to change.

Yet, there are other beliefs, behaviors, ideologies, and lifestyles that are well worth accepting and supporting, willingly and enthusiastically. We need to have a discerning mind to determine what to embrace and what not to embrace.

But whether we embrace a person's ideologies and lifestyle or not, I think that we can and should still embrace them. We can accept who they are and/or support their growth without necessarily embracing all their beliefs and behaviors. We might have to be careful to not send the wrong messages with our acceptance of them and rejection of their actions, but I think it's important to show that we love them, even if we don't love everything they do. Many people in the world preach tolerance, and we should tolerate most people and most things, but that doesn't mean we should tolerate, let alone embrace, anything and everything. Some behaviors and ideologies are intolerable and should not be embraced, regardless of how we feel about and act toward the people who practice them.

It's a fine line to tread, and I pity those who have to tread it often, but it's an important distinction to make. We should love everyone, but that love may not always take the form of acceptance and support. We should love everyone, but we should not embrace everything.