GO LOVE: GO LOVE ~ What is that?

Recently, I chatted with my friend Sharon about responses to the go love sticker. It's the only one on her car. She made a point of telling me she is not a sticker person, but was compelled to slap this one on. She likes the message and finds many opportunities to spread it. Down in Maryland it is arousing curiosity; people stop her and ask, "So, what's go love about?"

She said she fumbles with a response. "Well, you know, spread love, share love, that kind of thing." We decided that a better, more succinct answer is in order.

So, in this vein, I will try to encapsulate the go love philosophy. This concept began when I realized that for a mere $25 a year I could choose a permanent positive message on my vehicle's license plate.

In Maine, that was vanity plate charge in 2005 when I was registering my new used Subaru. Having only 7 characters to use (6 if I wanted to include a space between words) I set out to think of a message that never grows old. At the time as a student at Bangor Theological Seminary considering the power of spirituality to act as positive influence in the midst of the fears of terrorism, war, deception and political division, I was naturally looking for an antidote when I went searching for my words.

I wanted a pithy slogan that actively unifies, connects, and inspires. LOVE was the first word that came to mind. Then I worked on the remaining 3 characters. Hmm, Got Love? This wasn't the framing I wanted, too much of a question when I was looking for more of a statement. A way to take action. Live Love was one space and letter too long and abbreviated as Lve Love seemed confusing. LOVE standing alone was already on another Maine plate, so as I continued to consider my options, I thought about the entomology of the word LOVE: it is a feeling, as well as an expression, maybe even a frame of mind. Wanting a word that would promote this philosophy lead me to search for a 2 lettered word that actively promotes living LOVE as a philosophical spiritual lifestyle. This process resulted in the license plate pictured here. The groovy colors are because this is an agriculture plate and a portion of the extra fees I pay goes to support local farming initiatives.