Is it possible to love someone enough to hurt them?

I tend not to beat up the people that I love.

This is a touchy thing....on one hand, if this person is an adult, they have the right to live their life however they see fit.....whose truth is this anyway? YOUR truth? Are you imposing experiences that YOU'VE had into this other person's situation? Advice is ok.....badgering, is not. At some point, you've got to mind your own beeswax!

Most parents will tell you yes. Everyone of them I know has had to follow through on a punishment to teach their kid a lesson, even though it emotionally hurt their child. One example would be to follow through on a grounding that means the child is going to some social event.

I could not possibly hurt the only person I love. I'd get angry with me.

The question is a bit confusing .. Not sure where you are goin with that one.  Not sure how loving someone could hurt THEM.  Your love may cause YOU pain of disappointment, rejection, disillusionment  .. But it doesn't hurt THEM.

Not unless you're Oscar Wilde. Read his Ballad of Reading Gaol. Mind you, by the time he wrote that he was a bitter, twisted man. In spite of his wonderful sense of humour I never shared that particular sentiment.

Dear Anonymous,

The big problem with "loving someone enough to hurt them" is that you presume to know their best interests better than they do...and then force them to conform.

The kind of picture I get with that is Queen Mary I of England (1516-1558), aka "Bloody Mary," praying for the souls of people she executed when they would not convert to her religion.

If they don't love you back, then yes