Today we officially launch Issue Number 9 on the topic of Love. Of all the issues we have worked on this one has been the most challenging. Love is not straight forward. It’s contradictory and its definition is amorphous. There are also many types of love: love between two people, parental love, love of place, of friends, pets, sports, objects…oneself.
At first, the topic of love felt like a departure from the more pressing global issues we have been focused on for the past six years, but we soon discovered that at the root of both conflict and the potential for a resolution, is love. When we love someone or something so much we can also be afraid of losing them. Fear can drive people to do desperate acts. Love of land can lead to hating those who might destroy or steal it. The absence of love can lead to a world where unfathomable acts of violence take place in each moment – the world we presently live.
Yet love is sublime. It has the power to fill us with the most intense feelings of joy. It calls out from within us our very best. It gives us the strength when we find ourselves facing what others might see as impossible. Love is a great connector, bringing together people from all backgrounds and beliefs and is a healing agent throughout the world.
In Issue Number 9 we will embark on a journey together to get to the very heart of love. Along the way we will meet love in its many forms. This is our first issue open to our readers. We want to hear your stories and share them. This is our call to love. If you have a love story you want to share you can send it to us or post it directly to our Facebook Page. You can also join our movement on Instagram by posting images to #ExperimentswithLove. From the submissions we receive we will be choosing stories that stand out to share here on RedFlag.org and in our upcoming print edition.
The cover of Issue Number 9 has been in our files for several years. We knew the moment we saw it that it would be the cover for our Love Issue. It’s an image by photographer Rich Lam taken during the riots that broke out after the 2011 Stanley Cup in Vancouver. The couple in the photo are Scott Jones and Alexandra Thomas. They came to the scene of the riot out of curiosity and soon found themselves in the middle of stampeding fans and armed police. Alexandra was knocked down and Scott leaned down to help her up. Before rising he gave her a kiss. The image went viral and immortalized them as the “kissing couple”. The almost theatrical juxtaposition became a meme for “Love not War”. The couple appear to be unaware of the violence around them, but even with the backstory revealed there’s still great power in their choice to take a pause for love and tenderness when violence and chaos were forcing them literally to the ground.
There is a world where we can stand up together in the face of all that we perceive as “war” and choose love. We are going on that journey. Are you ready?