Keep the Flame Burning

OK – the term that is sometimes written as okay – keeps creeping into people’s conversations ever so often. When did we first start using this term that looks more like an abbreviation?

The two letters were first used by the Democratic OK club in the mid 19^th century. Martin Van Buren the then US president was born in Kinderhook, a village in New York State. So people gave him the nickname, ‘Old Kinderhook’. The name became popular when he was seeking a second term. His friends thought he had done well as president and endorsed him for another four years in office. So the letters OK came to mean ‘all right’ or correct.

‘How are you? People ask and many do not even wait for a reply! Sometimes you, too reply without applying your mind. You say “I am OK!” What do you really mean when you say that? Perhaps this calls for a bit of self examination. “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation”, observed poet- philosopher Henry D Thoreau, and  his observation continues to be relevant in the 21^st century as well despite all the comfort aids we have invented for ourselves with the help of technology

Why is it so easy for us to say “OK”? Do we find it is a convenient term that means neither this nor that? Does it mean we are close neither to God nor to our family and friends? Is it a way of hiding our hypocrisy? Does it indicate that you are letting love grow cold?

There could be many genuine reasons why, in the course of our engagement with society, our love gradually begins to grow cold. We tend to become selfish, proud, ungrateful and irritable. Jesus has warned that in the ‘last days’ the faith of many will grow cold. So also love might grow cold. When love grows cold, it is life threatening. Love is the oxygen which sustains positivity and compassion, ousting bitterness and resentments from us. Love is energy.

When relationships breaks down, filling us with unhappiness, let us examine whether or not it is the result of a power failure in our lives; the failure of love. Love heals and restores us back to health. We should not cause our love to become cold.

If you want to ensure spiritual well-being, you need to keep the flame of love burning in your heart though others might ignore you, hate you and even hurt you. Love calls for sacrifice and forgiveness.

It is being repeatedly proved that the things of this world and our own possessions will not be sufficient to keep us happy if there is no love felt within us. Did not Mother Teresa keep reminding us that the world experiences a famine of love?

Lovelessness is the bane of our times as people are getting increasingly addicted to a materialistic culture and begin to assume that by consuming more and more they could become happy. In the race for bigger and better worldly pursuits, we tend to neglect relationships – we forget to love one another; this is what causes us to feel a ‘quiet desperation’.

Let’s not give up meeting one another and encouraging one another because we need one another. Love is the binding force that helps us feel connected and secure.

So when you put the question to someone: “How are you?” pay attention to the answer. For the answer will show whether he is keeping the flame of love burning or is letting it go cold.