Thursday, July 29, 2010

How do we battle hatred? A question: If we stood before our enemy, how would we react? I have no idea what I would do... I don't make any enemies. To have an enemy is to have a prolonged hatred for something, and I find that silly, immature, and superficial. I have come to believe that it is impossible for hatred to not exist. What we can do is perhaps lighten the intensity and duration of it. For me, any hate I experience does not last long, because I choose to be simple. I choose to forgive and forget. I tell myself, that there is no end to perpetuating the cycle of hatred, so let it come and go without much fuss, without asking why. We'd all be much happier people that way, if we could minimize prolonged hatred for others.

Naruto anime points this out: words of forgiveness come easy, love does not. I guess this refers to loving one's enemy. I don't believe it can't be done. The secret lies in giving in, even though it makes one seem weak and soft-hearted. I want to believe that some people have actually truly forgiven their enemies, just that their dignity prevents them from admitting that they have; they want to put up a tough exterior to demonstrate their cause... but to what ends? Why keep up that hostility? I can't see a point, and I never will. Perhaps it's a fear of rejection, of disapproval or rebuttal. Perhaps it's a sense of guilt as well - guilt of even partaking in the cycle of hatred - that prevents one party from extending his/her hand to the other and say "I have forgiven you and I love you, my enemy (-.-)". It is a subconscious fear that doing so is degradable, and hence our pride perpetuates the rift. There will always be hatred in this world, partly because not many have the refinement to subdue their own hatred. The fact that one even has to subdue it shows how intrinsic hatred is as an emotion in our lives. To live and love is to risk experiencing hatred. Perhaps the key to being a peacemaker lies in not forgetting that little child within us(for girls, no, it does not mean you have to be pregnant. Ok bad joke.)