Their opposite, Paul knew, knife through those connecting stitches and sever us into self-serving competitors. The loving person doesn't covet what others have nor begrudge them their possessions or the good things that come their way. The loving person doesn't go around bragging about all that he or she has or does, but is content that the good simply be good. Loving people don't look down at others as inferiors, and don't insist on their way always being the only way. In fact, loving people will sometimes give up their justifiable due for the sake of others.
Love means lengthening one's fuse, and forgiving and even forgetting.
Genuine lovers seem to know that when one person hurts or fails, something about that loss affects us all. Love, they know, rejoices with the truth. It would have been a difficult list for the Corinthians to read. With each characterization, they would have found their personal and congregational life embarrassingly contradicted. It's not easy to have yourself used as a negative illustration, but they could not have missed seeing themselves in that light.