So, what is love?
Love is unconditional acceptance of ourselves and of others. I believe a huge aspect of love, and especially unconditional love, is simply the act of understanding where others are coming from. For example, hurt people in our society hurt other people. I do believe there are consequences to our actions, regardless of why we did them.
However, if we can see that the people who perform harmful, destructive acts toward others are hurt themselves, it helps our ability to get on board with the concept of love. If we can practice unconditional love toward ourselves and others, then others see our example and the results this action portrays in our lives. If others can see this in us, they will want what we have, and we can influence others for the better.