Just as Yourself

MyLife Essay Contest 2017

Love someone just as you love yourself . . . how is that possible? I’m so into myself; how I look, how I talk, how I act. We can go on and on. If I’m so into my own self, how am I, this person who thinks all day about myself, able to love someone as much I love myself? Is that even possible?

I live my life thinking all day about me. Now I have to think about you. Could I sit there while my friend is speaking, actually listening and caring about what she says, feel what she is going through? Can I truly love someone as much as I love myself?

Chassidus comes to explain something amazing. We focus so much on the external things, so much about how the person portrays himself, but as Jews and Chabad chassidim, we know there is more to a person than his outside appearance. We have a neshama, an essence of godliness, a חלק אלקי ממאל ממש . We are a special being that is literally a part of Hashem.

So here I am, a part of G-d in me, and you, a person who comes from the same source. We have the same father, G-d. So yes, while this person can bother you, drive you crazy, and do things to annoy you; you are both a part of the same family. For example, your siblings, They can be a nuisance, but at the end of the day, you still love them because you are part of same family.

So too, loving someone as yourself may seem difficult. It may seem impossible to feel that for another person. It is true that sometimes it doesn’t feel like you are part of one big family, but at the end of day, you both come from same source, the same father. We need to remember that for next time and it will but surely help us to achieve the goal of to love your fellow as yourself. After all, we are both a part of the same being.