It seems that we humans are an illogical specie. We fight against what we don’t want and yet
we don’t see what we’re doing that is identical to what we’re fighting
against. This Resistance we’ve formed
feels to me was formed first and foremost as a response to hate, to people who
promote hate and to people who express their hatred in public spaces to the detriment
of others; to the detriment of non-white, not heterosexual, not Christian
people, immigrants, women. We, The
Resistance, rail against such things when the ‘other side’ practices their
hatred loud and proud on social media and public spaces. Yet, some of us are
guilty of the exact same thing we see the people we are resisting doing. We just refuse to see it, because we like the
way it makes us feel; as in it makes us feel superior to whomever we are
hating.
I think it’s safe to say that we are ALL full bore, no holds
barred, against hate. So then, why oh why do so many of us practice hatred
toward others on an hourly basis on social media? Why do some even hate on other resisters? Are
there two kinds of hate? Is there a good kind and a bad kind? Do we really,
truly feel as if our hatred focused on others is somehow ‘righteous’ hate
whereas the hate focused on liberals, on people of color, on the LGBTQ+
community, on anyone not Christian, on immigrants, on women, on anyone who
doesn’t share their views is ‘unacceptable’ hate?
It most certainly appears that many resisters do feel that
our hate is righteous, and we have every right to wield it against anyone at
any time without being called out for being a hater. Look people, hate is hate
is hate is hate. The target of one’s hate doesn’t change the property of hate.
Hate is something that harms, but the person it typically harms the most is the
person feeling it. Some may say that hating others is healthy and that everyone
does it. That’s an excuse. I know it’s an excuse because I’ve used it myself to
justify being a hateful person. I’ve found that there is no excuse for hating
others and that it’s not natural to us, not if we accept that love is the
natural state of all species. Love is what holds it all together, for without
love mothers would not protect their babies, fathers would not protect their
families, we would not help and protect one another.
So many believe that their hatred is somehow ‘different’
than other people’s hate because we are hating those who make hatred their bread
and butter; the GOP for instance or hate groups or the KKK or the white
supremacists or the Nazi’s. Those people are deluding themselves and are only interested
in justifying their own hate while typically speaking out against others whose
hatred is focused on us.
Bottom line folks is that hate cannot eradicate hate. Only
love can do that. Hate can’t defeat hate, it only adds to it. Hate has never fed
a child, helped a senior citizen, comforted a friend or loved one, cured a
disease, repaired or built a home, lifted up one in need, repaired a rift, healed a heart, created a safe harbor for those in need. Hate has NEVER created peace ANYWHERE on planet earth.
While it’s easily understood why it’s so easy for us to feel
hatred, it’s time in our specie’s evolution to recognize that just because it’s
easy to feel, easy to do, doesn’t make it good for us or healthy for us. Hatred
has a cure. We are the cure when we choose love over hate, knowledge over fear,
hope over despair, community over division.
It’s up to us folks, up to every one of us to look within, to monitor
our behavior and to choose not to be them in order to overcome them.
In closing I just want to say that I’m not a hypocrite. I
have hated. I have enjoyed hating. I have been really good at delving it out on
social media and even in my real life. However, at some point not that long ago
I started to take notice of how it made me feel which was to feel superior to
whomever I was hating, of how easily I hated something or someone, at how my
hate somehow was always justified whereas the hate of others (especially directed
at me) wasn’t justified. I had to stop and understand that I was making a
choice that was harming me so much more than it could ever harm the targets of
my hatred. I had to mature, even as late in life as it was, and realize that
anger was acceptable and that being disappointed in others was acceptable but
that hating anything and anyone who I saw as a threat or was against me or what
I think was NOT ACCEPTABLE. It’s a
choice we make. Hate comes without warning into our hearts and minds, but once
we see it there it’s up to use to choose not to give it power and not to wield
it against others.
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