Image: Public Domain, Morguefile

Contrary to what some may think, I believe that everyone deserves to be loved. Whether it’s romantic love, familial love or friendly love, everyone deserves to have that experience. One may think that some people are too evil or to broken to deserve love, but I always wonder, if they’d been loved in the past, would they ever have turned out so wrong?

Society has become a monster that forces us to compare ourselves to others. We’re trained to look for someone “better” than ourselves and to feel bad about ourselves. Then we struggle to become something we’re not, that “better” (more attractive, richer, more popular, not actually better) person, which only makes us more depressed. In the midst of all this comparison, we feel unworthy of love. We’re not good enough, so who would want us? Or people go the other way, confusing sex or status with love, and still feel unworthy or unsatisfied.

The simple fact is, we all deserve to be loved. We should seek to love ourselves and others, and in that we’ll receive love in return. It’s not all about romantic love either. The love of a true friend can be one of the most fulfilling things in life. Loving your family can also be very rewarding. Every one of us should experience the feelings of loving ourselves, loving someone else, and being loved.

Some people balk at this idea, believing that some people are too inferior or evil to be loved. But as I eluded to in the opening, if they had loved themselves and been loved by others, there’s a good chance that they’d be someone else today. And even now, no matter how broken they are, there’s always a chance that being loved could be just what they need to become a better parson. A lot of depression and aggression that people display is rooted in feelings of being disrespected and unloved. When we feel that no one cares about us, we feel bad, and that typically surfaces as sadness or anger. By showing love, we could change a person’s day, or maybe their entire life.

My heart always goes out to people who feel unworthy of love. They are worthy, they just don’t realize it. I felt that way myself once, so I understand how painful it is, but I also understand now how wrong I was. Most of the time, when people feel unlovable, it’s because of something totally subjective and therefore likely untrue. “I’m too ugly to be loved.” No, you’re not ugly, that’s subjective. To plenty of people you’re beautiful. “I’m too stupid to be loved.” No, you’re not stupid, you can always become smarter if you want, and in comparison to some other people, you’re brilliant. If you consider yourself unworthy of love and your reason can be explained by “I’m too ____” or “I’m not _____ enough”, those are subjective things, and probably wrong.

For every person who doesn’t like you, there’s at least one person out there who does. And you are worthy of friendship and love. You are good enough, or if you’re actually not, you can always become good enough. You just have to remember to be good enough for yourself, and never try to meet any other person’s standards. If you have to become someone you don’t love, then you’re doing the wrong thing. First and foremost you need to love yourself. Always remember, you are worthy, and somewhere out there, someone will love you for who you are.

Briana Blair

Briana Blair is an author and artisan. She has published more then 30 books and thousands of articles across multiple sites. After practicing Paganism and witchcraft for 25 years, she's now on a journey as an atheist and skeptic. She's eclectic, unpredictable, and always evolving. Facebook - Twitter