I try very hard to love you, dammit

One of the annoying things about being a Christian (for more, see this past post) is that you're meant to love everyone. Jesus said the commandments were Love God and love your neighbour -- it's in the gospels somewhere. I've heard sermons on this point which took it for granted that it isn't possible to love people at will. I don't believe that this is true. Of course some people one does love easily, and other people are dislikable, but I think that if you try hard you can muster some love for anyone. (Scraps of absolute bare-bones love, not love that involves anything the person does for you or relies on any sort of relationship.) You have to concentrate on anything likeable or good that the person does, and remember it in a mental notebook. You can build up some very basic love just by knowing someone well. I mentioned at lunch today that I have a list of people I try hard to love, and I was a bit surprised that people didn't seem to approve -- surely it's better than just disliking or giving up on the difficult people? Anyway it's not something I'm good at, but then I'm lucky enough not to know anyone who's really really hard to love.

Take, for example, that thing that happens when someone luuurves someone, and they mention their name frequently and gratuitously in conversation. That is always cute, even if sometimes the circumstances aren't ideal -- anything where someone can't help themselves, and they try to hide a positive emotion but can't, is cute.