There are many types of abuses, such as those against infants or against the elderly. What is it about the human psyche that makes people commit such abuses? Is it caused by a lack of love? The theme of this picture book is the fearful misunderstanding of love, one that may lead to severe psychological damage.
Love is very important.
Unfortunately, a lot of people misunderstand the nature of love.
Often such misunderstandings of love hurt people and can escalate into various forms of abuse against others, even resulting in wars.
If the misunderstandings of love are ignored while the importance of love continues to be stressed,
love can transform into something dangerous.
Let's look at some examples of the precarious nature of love.
Parents abusing their own children out of love
Domestic violence such as a husband beating his wife whom he loves
Abuses against the elderly by caretakers and/or their family members
Sex-related crimes against those whom one loves, including stalkers, sadism, rape, abduction, sexual harassments and even lust murders.
If you stretch your imagination further, you may even see how the misunderstandings of love are deeply involved in such human tragedies as discrimination against minorities, forcing one's culture or values against others and invasions and/or wars, all of which are organically mixed with the illusion of good and evil.
Needless to say, tragedies based on misunderstandings can be prevented and resolved. Abuses caused by misunderstandings of love can also be rectified. Yet such resolution need not involve hatred against others. Neither military forces nor reins of power are needed, of course. All you need to do is to spread the awareness of these misunderstandings to the society and the world.
"Love and enemies" is a picture book I have written in order to clear up one such misunderstanding of love.
N.B. Love your enemies.
This picture book is not about the teachings of loving ones enemies as preached in Christianity (The Holy Bible).
Here is the PDF file for the picture book 'Love and Enemies'.(approximately 0.4 mb)Love and Enemies in Japanese （愛と敵－虐待の心理）
| Love and Enemies |
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| Jun Togo Edited by B.Blue |
