LOVE All

A badminton philosophy for world peace.

- Manda Venkata Apparao

Every badminton match begins with two simple words: “Love All.”

The umpire’s voice rings clear across the court, announcing that the score stands at zero-zero, that both players begin on equal ground, that this is a fresh start. But within this sporting terminology lies a profound truth that our fractured world desperately needs to embrace.

The Wisdom Of Zero

In badminton, “love” represents zero—the absence of points, the blank slate, the moment of pure potential before competition begins. Yet there’s something beautifully contradictory about using the word “love” to denote emptiness. Perhaps it’s not emptiness at all, but fullness—the full presence of equality, possibility, and mutual respect.

When the umpire calls “Love All,” no one has an advantage. The corporate executive and the college student, the seasoned champion and the nervous beginner—all stand equal in that suspended moment before the shuttlecock soars. Both players are valued, both are seen, both matter equally.

Isn’t this what our world needs? A collective “Love All” moment where we reset our prejudices, our grudges, our assumptions about who deserves what?

Starting Fresh, Starting Together

Every game offers us sixteen, seventeen, or twenty-one chances to begin again. Each rally starts with “love all” energy—the hope that this time, we’ll play our best, that this exchange will showcase skill rather than spite, that excellence rather than enmity will prevail.

In our daily lives, we rarely allow ourselves or others this grace. We carry yesterday’s arguments into today’s conversations. We judge strangers based on their appearance, accent, or origin. We build walls instead of nets—forgetting that a net exists not to divide a court but to create the very structure that makes the game possible.