An excellent article by the Editor of Into the Deep, Issue 196 of August, 2019
Hate is such a strong word. It’s a word I have seldom used, or seldom heard being used, for most of my life. I’d probably only use it in the context of something I hate doing, like going to the dentist. But I can’t remember it ever being used about a person. My parents would never let us speak about hating anyone. We could dislike someone, but never hate. I had no reason to hate anyone. I still don’t.
So it is always an affront to my senses when I hear that I’m hateful, or that I use hate-speech, or that I hate certain groups of people, just because I believe that marriage is necessarily between a man and a woman, or that I believe a pregnant woman has a human being developing within her who has a right to protection.
In recent years the word hate has become so common. Abnormally common. And out of place, out of context, out of proportion. You hear enraged, screeching, violent people accusing calm, polite, joyful people of being haters. You hear a quiet, logical argument being shouted down as hate-speech without being heard or counter-argued. Anyone who believes simple truths like men and women are different and complementary, or that baby human beings are still human beings, is now a hater.
The only way I can make sense of this is when I see the behaviour of those who accuse the ‘haters’ of hating. Their anger and violence and desperation leads me to the conclusion that they are people who must know what hate is, who must feel the immense pain and burden of hatred, who must live it and taste it and know its ugly fruits. Maybe they’ve been hated by those who should have loved them. Maybe they hate themselves. They certainly hate those who disagree with them. Only someone who feels hatred themselves, would think to accuse someone else of hating when they simply disagree. For those of us who save hatred for the dentist chair, it’s a foreign concept.
Hatred is a losing battle, a downward spiral. But just because people may feel hatred towards me or my opinions or beliefs, doesn’t mean that I feel the same about them. I just wish they could realise that. I feel no hatred towards these people who accuse us of hating them. Only sadness for the tragedy they suffer, and a desire that they will one day come to know true love and joy.
Ed
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