"All You Need is Love"

 

HATE. I truly believe it is the ugliest word in the English Language. And, it is probably the easiest word to say. As a child, I would say, I hate spinach or I hate taking a bath. My mother would tell me, “You don’t hate spinach, you just don’t like it!” …get in the bathroom! How many of us said, many years ago, “I hate school, or I hate my teacher.”? Maybe we didn’t like them, but hate?

HATE is such a strong word.  Webster’s Dictionary lists quite a few synonyms, but I can’t imagine anyone using any of them. Can you imagine a “peaceful” protestor screaming at a policeman…. “I LOATHE you’’  Or how about, “I DETEST, ABHOR or DESPISE you”?  And, a protestor would never take the time to print out the word ABOMINATE!

HATE is powerful emotion and it is a subject written about by some very quotable people. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.” Very wise.  And, his widow, Coretta Scott King, said, “Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.”

There is way too much hate and hate speech in our lives. The quote I like best is from the writer, Maya Angelou. “Hate has caused a lot of problems in this world, but has not yet solved one.”

HATE is not the answer. Hate is not one of God’s gifts and Graces. Hate is going to make you unhappy and sad. Don’t HATE anyone or anything. It won’t improve your life one iota.

 

Dear Lord. You did not hate anyone. Teach us tolerance and acceptance. We are all very different and we need to get along.