Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
So Sani tweeted this yesterday and I disagreed completely. Then I remembered how terrible twitter can be with context and nuance. I decided to call and we came to an agreement which I will summarise in two easy to read parables at the end of this article.
Why do I think love is enough? First of all, I am a Christian and the ultimate gift of redemption (the work of redemption), was done out of pure love. By simply reading the 4 gospels you will see that it was difficult for Jesus to carry out this task. It took a lot from him, including his life at the end.
Now stepping away from my religious inclination, I also feel that love can spur a human to be better. My thought process goes like this;
“I want to become a better man/woman so I can please/provide/help or contribute towards the life/goals of this person that I love.”
We see this happen to parents who work extra hard and even pick up extra jobs so they can simply provide for their kids.
That is love.
Love aids in developing a strong sense of responsibility towards each other, or in this case towards that man/woman or your offspring.
I believe that if families have conversations about these expressions of love (and even strive to show it in more diverse ways), society would improve positively. After-all, society mostly a collection of families. Yeah well, that was a slight digression.
Now a valid argument against this thought process of mine is that a large percentage of divorce in the western world happens due to financial reasons, hence love is not enough.
While this might be a somewhat valid argument, I strongly believe that the foundation of most of those split unions was not built on love. It was build mostly on mutual or one sided provision.
Yes, finance is pretty important for most relationships to grow, but I do not think it should be a part of its foundation.
I am not saying you should marry a poor man or woman (God forbid affliction abeg). I am simply saying that when you fall in love with that man or woman, one of the fruits of love would be a sense of responsibility growing inside of you as to how you can provide/contribute.
In summary, Love na the foundation wey dem dey build the house (marriage) ontop and na money we use do the decking/roofing. If roof nor dey and rain beat house, most times person go run commot. Last last, you not fit build solid house without foundation, even if you get the resources to put roof.
For those who cannot speak pidgin (smh), I am simply saying while money is important, without a solid foundation of love (the reason to get into marriage), the marriage will definitely crumble with time. Let love be your foundation.
Money is also pretty important because in the words of the 21st century philosopher David Adeleke;
Love sweet oh, but when money enter love is sweeter.
Fall in love, get married because of love and get your coins up.
Peace.
A big Thank you to Hachi and Charles for helping me edit and make this writing clearer. I❤️you guys.
P.S I am still disappointed that Lead Insurance has not hit up Davido to use this song.