It isn’t hard, at times, to love others for what they are. Such relationships are on easy terms, and we receive what we give in a fair measure. But to love another for what they may yet be — to give them the patience and kindness that lets them flower — this is a different task altogether. For to love a person for what he or she “may be” — costs “us;” and to pay this coin we must, ourselves, run in debt to who it is that “we” hope to be . . . an act that requires our payment in every moment, and with all those we meet.