The Love Drought

The Love Drought

We are living through a love drought.

As an educator in the community, in the classroom, and inside the jails, I’ve witnessed it again and again. It’s not that love itself is gone, but that too many people no longer feel loved by those closest to them. When we stop feeling loved, it becomes harder to believe we are worthy of love at all.

Whether we are free or confined, so many of us are surviving with empty cups. It’s as if the soil of our souls has gone dry, thirsty for tenderness and parched from generations of silence. Every wound, every absence, every silence on the outside is magnified on the inside. Inside jails and prisons, the love drought is almost unbearable. My heart aches for the students and people I meet there.

These are today’s trauma centers, filled with poor and working-class people who have been hurt, who have hurt others, and who are still trying, quietly and courageously, to find a way to heal. Sociology helps us see this clearly: how the absence of love ripples through the individual, relationships, and society itself.

What I’m reminded of most is the power of demonstrated love. It’s not enough to say “I love you.” Love must be shown, lived, embodied.

Love, when demonstrated, becomes medicine. It softens hardened hearts and rebuilds the human spirit.

I invite you to think about how you demonstrate love to others. Be brave enough to ask, Do you feel loved by me? or How can I show you that I love you?

Because love is not passive. It’s a daily act of courage, and it’s the only thing powerful enough to change everything!