Yes it is meant as a serious question, although a little humour never hurts ( wearing protection is not an expression of love, it is a way of paticipating while avoiding unwanted consequences).
Aikido is the art of peace, love, harmony. Shouldn't we be aware of these things as we practice Aikido techniques such as kotegaeshi ,express them in our movements, not just discuss them between practices.
To love you need to know how to hate, to have peace you need to know how to wage war, to harmonize you need to know how to disrupt . These are the things we practice when we do Aikido/kotegaeshi. We also practice control of our bodies, minds and spirits. We express our love, harmony, peaceful intent by our control. We should be like Erik's surgeon.