Hate
While sitting on my front porch at a ridiculously early hour of the morning drinking my coffee and wondering if any interesting thoughts would come to my old mind, one did.
I realized that I could not recall ever hating someone. “Wait a minute,” I thought, “that can't be right.”
I began to search my database for an exception to this extraordinary thought. Nothing.
Hold on, let's check the definition of “hate”---“to feel intense or passionate dislike for someone---to loathe, detest, dislike greatly, abhor, abominate, despise, execrate, feel aversion toward, feel revulsion toward, feel hostile toward, be repelled by, and be revolted by.”
Whoa, I guess I have hated. Where did I go wrong in my thought that I never recalled hating anyone?
Well, I thought about it for some time as the sun began to rise, and then I came up with a thought. I've always associated “hate” with a desire that bad things will befall the subject of my hate. I must admit that I sometimes find myself snickering when bad things happen to some of the folks I “hate,” but this is not something I actively seek or wish-upon-a star for. I don't wish bad things to happen even to folks I loathe.
I look at people I “hate” as problems to be resolved---not as people to be destroyed.
Now don't get me wrong---I'm not a peace loving hippy nor a fellow who's likely to ask, “Why can't we all get along?” I know that peace is just one of many options and an unlikely one and all of us getting along ain't gonna happen.
Now, being a complex fellow (another way of saying I don't have all of my stuff together), I must make exceptions to my denial that I've never hated anyone---some folks are just too heinous to tolerate, and I hope the wrath of God smites them dead…or worse. Let's face it, some folks are evil…yeap, I said it: “evil.” They’re rare but they do exist.
I think a clue to my lack of “hatred” for my fellow man came years ago when I realized that once the threat from someone I “hated” had been vanquished, I had no feelings about the person at all…neither love nor hate…only indifference.
enough