Unconditional Love Leads to a New Life

Unconditional Love Is a Foundation of Diversity and Inclusion

Before jumping into a diversity and inclusion topic, let’s dissect Les Misérables, the classic French Musical play to understand motive and intent.

Les Misérables Synopsis

In 1815, Jean Valjean was released from prison. He was convicted of stealing bread for his starving sister and her family. He spent 19 years imprisonment in the Bagne of Toulon, a notorious prison in Toulon, France.

Upon release, he was rejected by the innkeepers because of his yellow passport that was carried by former convicts. He slept on the street with anger and bitterness.

Bishop Myriel sheltered him. However, at night Valjean stole Myriel’s expensive silverware and ran off. The police caught Valjean and brought him to Myriel.

The bishop pretended as if he had given the silverware to Valjean. He even gave two silver candlesticks to Valjean as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accepted the explanation and left.

Bishop Myriel told Valjean that God had purchased his soul and that he should use the money to make an honest living. Since then, Valjean changed his identity to Monsieur Madeleine and worked hard.

What is the difference between motive and intent?

The definition of motive is a reason for doing something, while the intent is a determination or a commitment to do or to achieve something. Hence, motive comes before intent.

Motive and intent are elements of crime, although motive is considered irrelevant in criminal law and intent is a key element in determining criminal liability.

From Motive to Receiving Grace

Valjean had a motive and an intent to steal the silverware, although his primary motive could be to feed his starving sister’s family. His primary motive was considered noble. He did not do that for a selfish reason. It was for the survival of his sister’s children.

Bishop Myriel understood Valjean and he had great empathy towards him. Hence Bishop Myriel protected Valjean despite his wrongdoing. This is called grace.

The definition of grace is a kind favour that is given even though a person may not deserve it. Grace is a gift and the owner may not expect anything in return. The foundation of grace is unconditional love.

Unconditional Love

There are a few definitions of love, a couple’s love and a parent’s love, etc. When we talk about unconditional love, it always refers to parents. However, some couples’ love provides unconditional love too.

Unconditional love is a definite and infinite love whether the other party is bad or good, deserved or undeserved. The other unconditional love refers to God’s love for us. What is the definition of God’s love?

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonour others. it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4–8)        

21st Century Unconditional Love

Back to Les Misérables, Valjean changed his identity to Monsieur Madeleine and made an honest living since then. The unconditional love from Bishop Myriel leads to a transformation of Valjean to a new life.

What is the context of unconditional love in the 21st century? We don’t need to study a dissertation to understand diversity, inclusivity, and equity. We only need visualisation and empathy to be in other people’s shoes.

Imagine their situation and ask ourselves a question before judging others from different backgrounds. What would we do if we were in their situation? You would be surprised if your answers might be similar to them.

Learning Empathy

I learned this from my dad. The Asian Financial Crisis started in late 1997 and continued to worsen. The cost of petrol increased rapidly within a short period. Our Indonesian currency, the Rupiah, devaluated from 1,500 to 15,000 against the USD.

The Indonesian inflation rate back in 1997 was 2.69%; then in 1998 skyrocketed to 59.45%. As a result, crimes increased from petty crimes of stealing grocery products to riots and looting. I was in my youth and ignorant too.

My dad reprimanded me and asked me a question. What would I do if I had 3 young children and we did not eat for a week because everything was escalated? To make matters worse, 64 national banks were liquidated and all savings were gone.

Some households did not have any money at all since the government did not back up those banks. Some people lost their jobs. Imagine if your children were screaming and crying because of hunger. Now we get, that judging is easy because we are not in their situation.

Let me clarify, I will not condone crime or other bad behaviour. However, being ignorant and passing judgment to others does not make a situation better either.

It causes stagnation. There is a cost for doing something and there is also a cost for not doing something. The latter will eventually result in huge costs.

Please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned to learn about personal development/growth and boost your empathy skills.

With gratitude and blessings

Yuliana Gunawan