What Love Will Do

It is impossible to come to Philadelphia and not be inspired.

No city has had a stronger influence on the American way of life than historic Philadelphia.  It was the birthplace of revolutions, inventions, and ideas that changed the world forever -- born from people who saw what can be rather than what was.

Most know the city's role in America's freedom and constitution, but did you know Philadelphia was also the birthplace of America's first hospital, university, library, bank, volunteer fire department, life insurance company, stock exchange, art museum and art school, mint, municipal water system, and zoo?  And Ben Franklin's kite experiment on a windy day in Philadelphia paved the way for us to plug into computers, first invented here in 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania, while snacking on those yummy Girl Scout cookies, first sold commercially on Arch Street in 1934.

How did one city give rise to so many important ideas? 

Perhaps due to a simple, yet powerful plan Philadelphia's founding father, William Penn, had for the city.  When England's King Charles II gave Penn the land that would one day become this great city, he pressed Penn to take a regiment of soldiers for protection 'against the savages.'  But Penn objected stating,

"The Indians have been killed and robbed by the settlers.
Let us now try what love will do."

Penn named his city 'Philadelphia', a Greek word for brotherly love, and set out to live at peace with the native Indians and create a 'great town with no wall to keep them out.'  Unlike other colonial cities, the City of Brotherly Love would not be surrounded by a stockade but rather be a city open and free to flourish from every direction. 

Penn's decision not to build physical barriers around the city made a powerful statement to its citizens not to build mental barriers either.  He knew that fear, failure, mediocrity, criticism, lack of vision/education, and lack of understanding of native or new cultures could just as easily confine this new city.  Instead, he encouraged its citizens to pursue their love of community, invention, education, worship, and freedom to create a better world for us all. 

Philadelphia became a powerful influence and inspiration to the rest of the world because it tried what love will do.

Valentine's Day offers us a gentle reminder to follow Penn's wisdom.  Perhaps we must realize that the walls we build to cope with the savages of our own lives --bitterness, fear of failure, disappointment, anger, lack of caring -- too often leave us stagnant and confined.  To flourish, we must open our minds and our hearts to what can be, rather than what our reality may be now.  Sometimes, it even requires us to live at peace with 'the enemy,' and in doing so, create a better version of ourselves.  In how we treat our relationships, our careers, our community -- perhaps even in how we treat ourselves  -- let us now try what love will do.

I am confident, like Penn, you'll discover it's the path to greatness.

Happy Valentine's Day,

Cindy