A Choice to Love

“A life without love is of no account. Don't ask yourself what kind of love you should
seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, eastern or western…divisions only lead to
more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love
is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire
loves water.” It is a quote from Shams of Tabriz that explains the whole meaning of the
video advertisement that we had watched last Monday. It explains that we can choose
who to love regardless of age, religion, disability, and race. Everyone in this world can
love with a different age of a person, different beliefs and practices because of religion,
different health conditions like being mute or deaf because of disability, and different
cultures and colors because of their race. Shams of Tabriz analogize love to the water of
life and lover to the soul of fire that if fire loves water the universe will create something
that will change the perspective of people to love that we all know today. The love that is
being described in the video advertisement is not only about romanic love, were people
is heavily controlled by emotion such as passion and sexual desire but is also telling us
the different love that we can give and receive from others such as unconditional love (an
altruistic, selfless, unconditional love), affectionate love (kind of love that you feel for
friends), familiar love (a strong bond, kinship, and familiarity for family), and many more.

The message was conveyed in two ways. The first one is that the message was
conveyed with the use of a led screen that captured the attention of the people around.
And it carried out different messages such as love has no age limit, religion, race, and
gender which is the 2nd one that was delivered through the video. That love has no
boundaries and it has no limit. The video showed different examples, like "love has no
gender" even if they are both female or both male it never stops them to be happy to each
other and they can have a family as well that will strengthen their relationship with one
another. Next is love has no race, even if they are having different cultures or different
norms they can also be best friends and they can share some stories with each other, to
that stories they can broaden their knowledge and help to know more about different
people. The video also tell that love has no disability, if you can't able to talk or can't be
express what you feel properly it is not a problem to show your love to others, like the girl
who is having a special sister despite having a hard times on how they can understand
each other, for them it is only a challenge but it can’t stop them to be happy. Next is love
has no age, if you are too old don't mind other people just live your life to the fullest and
do what your heart wants you to do and be happy to your life. Lastly is love has no religion,
nowadays it is a big deal in our society if you are having a different religion, but regardless
of their different beliefs or different practices they can build a friendship that can't be done
by someone. In general the video told us that love is very broad and sometimes difficult
because you can be judge by someone without knowing the real situation but always be
reminded that if you are happy and being loved by someone, whether your partner is the
same as your gender, or he/ she is mute, or you have different culture and beliefs it can’t
be a problem because love has no label. You can just ignore other people and fight for
the love and the happiness to yourself.

Many beliefs, cultures, and practices have been hit by the video advertisement
because they have a different view on what the meaning of the video is trying to tell. In
today’s situation of the world, many people are having a hard time accepting that love
comes from all forms, that love has no labels. Many same sex couple is being treated
down as an unnatural. Sometimes, we also find it wrong because of the teachings from
our parents and community, and beliefs from our religion. “If a man lies with a male as
with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to
death; their blood is upon them” (Leviticus 20:13). According to Merriam-Webster
abomination is something regarded with disgust or hatred. The verse clearly states that
homosexuality is not acceptable by the bible and same sex couple finds it hard to fight for
their freedom the choose who to love no matter what gender it is. That makes it different
in beliefs and contradict to each other. But other countries like Australia, Canada,
Ecuador, Ireland, New Zealand, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, and 21 more countries
(Green, 2019), have legally accepted same sex marriage for those couples who want to
be married to their same sex partner. Many couples around the world purposely fly to
those countries to get married because same sex marriage is not acceptable to theirs.
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (John
15:12). Loving each other is also giving others happiness, making them feel that they
were special in many ways even they have a different health condition and disability, treat
them equally like they were your brother or sister. Different races cannot separate them
from loving each other even they have some differences in culture or even in color of their
skin. Racism is one of the problems in today’s situation of countries, the belief of
superiority of one race over another. It separates most of the countries from making peace
and putting them in good terms. So countries form alliances like the United Nations and
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations to build a good relationship and help each
other to create a desirable nation for the people. Love has no age but does “love” have
an age? According to the advertisement of “Love Has No Label” love has no age and I
tell us that two people with a great amount of age gap can love each other. But is it
pushing people to pedophilia? According to Merriam Webster pedophilia is a sexual
perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object and a psychiatric disorder in
which an adult has sexual desires about or engages in sexual acts with a child. Raising
awareness on this topic is not good in the views of people but I’m certain that the video
advertisement about “Love has no age” is only telling that anyone with a large age gap or
even in their old age can love each other without hating or discriminating them.

The "Love Has No Labels” short video advertisement has a big impact to the
viewers and society because of its strong message. It shows the different kinds of love.
The viewers might learn or realize something, for example if they are having a partner
that has the same gender as them, they can realize that they must be proud of each
other because they are fearless on showing their love story to other people and with that
they will learn to ignore the judgment of the people around them. Next is having a friend
with different religion, in the beginning they will have a hard times to approach each other,
because they are having a different beliefs and practices but with the help of the short
video they can express what they really are without thinking on the opinion of others, they
can share different stories with no awkward feelings because they are comfortable with
each other. Third, when you are too old, sometimes they are being shy to show affection
towards each other. They think that they are too old for sweetness, but the video shows
that they can show love despite their age, they can enjoy every moment because they
are lucky that they got each other. And also if you are having a friend or sister with
disabilities, you have nothing to be ashamed of, and you must be proud of having them,
they are the gift from heaven and you must appreciate them despite their condition. But
on the other hand, there are people that will not support or appreciate it because they are
having their own beliefs and own interpretations. They can put to their mindsets that the
video is tolerating the wrong practices of each other. For example, if you are having a
partner with the same gender as yours you will be judged by others without knowing the
truth, we all know that the churches will not support it because they only believe that
females are for males and males are for females only. And to that, we can conclude that
there are different impacts with the viewers. It can be positive or negative aspects but in
the end, we must respect the feelings and beliefs of one another. If they are happy and
they do not trample other people let them be so that they can express it without fear of
the judgment of other people.

The part that the message is best delivered is where it is on exact Valentine’s Day
where people celebrating their love with their partner. It is a special day for the
advertisement to be seen by many to raise awareness about the message that they want
to be heard of. Many can relate to this one because most of them are with their loved
ones that can saw each of every example that they gave. Like in the love has no race,
they show people with two different races assuming the other one is Asian and the other
is Black American that is in a relationship. Another one is when two women turned out to
be homosexual and appear in the back of the LED screen and kissing each other and
showing that love has no gender. They also show the crowd a sibling which is the other
has a different health condition and proving them that the love of a sibling will not change
even in times of difficulty, especially with a different health condition. The last one is where
two different religion appears to be a best friends regardless of their beliefs and practices.
Another unique way of delivering the message is by making the crowd or even the viewers
of the video think what is behind the skeletal structure moving on the screen. Making us
guess what comes next and what kind of couple will share their stories to us. By making
a video presentation is also a great way to easily spread throughout the social media the
message they want to deliver for everyone.

For the final conclusion, I can say that the video is very inspirational. It thought us
how to accept each other despite having different beliefs and practices in life. We can
truly learn about what acceptance is, and respect is the one that needs those people,
they do not deserve judgment from us because they didn't do something bad or wrong.
Even if they define love with different situations or perspectives in life, it only shows that
no matter how hard can it be or no matter it takes if it is love then be happy for it. Those
people are very brave because they share their stories to us to make us realize that
loving is an important thing and not to choose based on what others will say but to
choose what your heart is really telling you to. By celebrating pride month which is every
June, it is a great way to show us what love can really do and by the choices that we
have committed is very important for the members of LGBTQ+ considering their feelings
and finding their happiness in life.