Like is All You Need?!
Is love enough? Nah actually in daily life liking is more difficult and
possibly more vital than loving.
You love your parents. You love your brothers and sisters.
You love your children. But you don't necessarily always like them....
Sometimes you love your husband, or your wife, but you have a hard time liking
him or her.
What is the difference
between "liking" and "loving"?
Love comes from our
sameness; liking comes from our differences. Loving someone underscores your
shared identity, while liking another person emphasizes your distinctiveness
from each other.
I love you because
you and I, in a very deep place, are one. You and your parents, you and your
siblings, are connected in a very real way. There is love there, even if it is
repressed and complicated.
When I like you it
means that I appreciate your unique personality and character traits. I like
you not because we are one, but because we are different, and your
individuality enriches and enhances my life.
Loving your neighbor is a mitzvah. It reminds us that at our
soul core level we are one but there are more mitzvoth and they challenge us to
not just love each other but to like the other too! Like is all you need…. Now
how does that sound to you? :)
Menachem Mendel Bluming and Chabad.org