love

The english word ‘love’ gets a lot of unmerited airtime in our bible translations. Mostly when we read ‘love’ in an english bible something significantly different is meant by the author. Love is a catchall word we use to mean a lot of things and its roots are neither Greek nor Hebrew. It’s a Swiss Army Knife english word that covers a range of priorities, choices, emotions, and chemical reactions we experience, but it is actually extremely shallow.

The 1977 Bee Gees song ‘How Deep Is Your Love?’ highlights the problem. It’s a question that can be asked a couple ways: "How much do you love me?" or "To what extent do you love me?" or "For how long will you love me?" or "Under what conditions will you stop loving me?" The song asks something humans always ask each other, "what is your definition of love?" as if love is a subjective thing. We ask these questions because love is exactly a subjective thing. 

In July 2020, Bridger’s younger sister was attacked by a dog. Bridger came to her rescue, leading her away and helping her hide from the dog and taking the full brunt of the attack on his own body. I’m sure he fought back with all the strength available to him. But he still received 90 stitches for his efforts, the World Boxing Counsel awarded him the honorary title of Heavyweight Champion calling him “the bravest man on earth.” 

What impressed me most about Bridger is that when he saw his sister being attached he stopped to think, the tiniest fraction of a second; and what he thought was: “If someone has to die, I think it should be me.”

I believe Bridger made that choice long before this incident, without the aid of a sociology degree, a class in moral philosophy, or a state education this boy had decided to be male in the full range of its ethic.