Love Conquers

Love conquers everything, my mother would say.
I am glad she believed that.  If I could, 
I would ask her what she meant by that.

I always took it to mean
If you loved someone enough
If you supported them enough
Anything was possible
Anything could be overcome.

That was before I learned about
ignorance, arrogance, intolerance, 
cynicism, pessimism, sarcasm, 
perversity, vulgarity, cruelty, 
addiction, aggression, procrastination,
laziness, stubbornness, selfishness, 
impatience, belligerence, vengeance,
deceit, contempt, resentment, 
dishonesty, jealousy, vanity,
heartless, humorless, ruthless,
greedy, angry, crazy,
deceitful, boastful, scornful
critical, artificial, superficial,
ego-centrism neuroticism, narcissism. 

Before I learned that love alone 
does not equal change.  At least
not love from one person to another.
Especially when that other person 
does not want to change.

Either my mother never encountered these things
to any degree, which is a distinct possibility.
Or maybe my mom was talking about
the love of God conquering everything.
Which is another distinct possibility with her.
But if that's the case, it was a really big oversight
not to have ever explained that part to me.
If she had, it might have made me a little less loving,
I suppose, but it probably would have saved me
years of frustration.  After all, who am I 
to think my love is going to change anything?