On Society Values: We’re Talking Love-in-Service

RENT, the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical by Jonathan Larson, features the song “Seasons of Love” to open Act II. The song has made its way into popular culture as a sensation itself, especially that high note performed by Tracie Thomas in the trailer for the 2005 movie adaptation. The lyrics suggest that we measure our lives in many ways, perhaps “in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.” Ultimately though, the cast of LGBTQIA+ and HIV-positive identifying characters decide that life should be measured “in seasons of love.”

If one is to quantify the lived experience through something as questionable and abstract as love, you might ask what it is. I’d say it’s a valid question and depends on who you ask. In a time of love languages and compatibility tests in the context of romantic love, it seems wholly unnecessary to have to explain this. When your friends can “love” your I-made-it-home-safely text with a double tap of the thumb, it further complicates the meaning of the word. My grandmother always said, love is just a word until you put it into action. Let’s take this in: love the verb, is defined by Oxford as to “feel deep affection for (someone)” or alternatively to “like or enjoy very much.”

The human race has dedicated whole industries and holidays to celebrate the practice of enjoying things very much and feeling deeply for people. Hershey’s Kisses were originally a Valentine’s Day marketing campaign that made it so far into popular culture, said candies now play “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” in one of the best commercials you’ll ever see. Love songs dominate the charts at any given moment and people only ever buy poetry books about love, it seems. Let me illustrate further; US News says that over half of newlyweds took on debt to pay for their weddings in a survey released in February 2024 – love costs big money.

The James Baldwin Society of NCCU believes in “love-in-service”. We contend that how much you feel deeply for or enjoy people is best illustrated by the commitment you make to improving their lives. Servitude is an essential building block of the Society, our Officers – including me, the president – serve our membership as described in our charter. Our programs, such as the in-development high school Writing Workshops; our ongoing clothing drive; and soon to be announced collaborations with the Durham County Library System, serve our community. Our Society namesake, James Arthur Baldwin, served his people – and the world – with his intellectual gifts and Creator given talents.

Service exemplifies love as an act of freely giving the most precious and invaluable resource we have, time, to others. The James Baldwin Society believes that love is the greatest investment you can make in a world full of hate. The returns are immense; the rewards are potentially life-saving. Love-in-service is the philosophy of showing our deep affection for others by making tangible positive changes in their lives. We want to encourage others to love, too. When we extend love to people and organizations, we expect it to travel like a raging fire, returning ten-fold just so that we can have more to share.

Love is going to change the world; don’t take my word for it, James Baldwin himself said “The universe, which is not merely the stars and the moon and the planets, flowers, grass and trees, but other people, has evolved no terms for your existence, has made no room for you. If love will not swing wide the gates, no other power will or can.” Black people, we have to lead with love, not the notion of it but love in action, in service. It’s held us together for centuries and is a key to our liberation.

– ‘24 – ‘25 President of The JBSNCCU