Love and Hate Part 2 (standard:Editorials, 1888 words) [2/4] show all parts
Author: Lori	Added: Aug 06 2007	Views/Reads: 2699/1910	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Continuing the piece I started a few weeks ago.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


1. Hatred comes from the heart; contempt from the head; and neither
feeling is quite within our control. ~Arnold Schopenhauer~ 

This explains it all doesn't it? I mean there's nothing I could add to
this. Well, besides that it's stupid to hate some “thing” or some 
“body” without a dang good cause. And who determines if it's good or 
not? You? Me? Or maybe God? 

2. Hate is the consequence of fear; we fear something before we hate it;
a child who fears noises becomes a man who fears noises. ~Cyril 
Connolly~ 

It all boils down to how we're taught as a child, doesn't it? If you
were taught to hate as a child, then you'll hate as an adult. To break 
this chain of events is, not only to go against everything you've been 
taught, but to also go against the ones who taught it to you in the 
first place. 

Here's the second question in this series: 

What do we gain by loving or hating something or someone? 

Let's tackle the love first, for it's the easiest. You can gain freedom,
power, love in return, and most importantly respect for yourself and 
others. 

Freedom because you break the chains from binding you down with the
emotions of negativity and despair. If you are free to love then you 
are free to explore all the possibilities that life has to offer you. 
If you're not giving over to the emotions of hate, you have a freedom 
to love someone, not because of the color of their skin, sexual 
orientation, or whatever because you're given the chance to know that 
person beyond what they are to see who they are. Hate and 
misunderstanding blinds you to not be able to see people for what they 
are like on the inside. It only allows you to see what you “think” is 
wrong with them, not the person they are. 

Power again because you are free to love and enjoy the experiences that
come from it. But, power can be a misleading thing. Power can be 
corrupted into making you think you love someone and to make a decision 
that destroys the someone you thought you were helping, all in the name 
of love. Power is a good thing because it gives you a sense of self 
esteem you wouldn't have without love. If you have a problem with self 
esteem, more than likely you feel powerless. But, if you can find a way 
to love yourself then the power is returned and you can give it up at 
your own discretion. 

Take for instance a woman who is beaten by her husband, or the other way
around. They have given their power to someone who wants to destroy 
them, make them feel like they're nothing or no one. If they can find 
the power within themselves to leave this person, then the power is 
returned and they will know not to give it up so freely the next time. 
For when the next time love comes around, they have the power to see 
the person for whom they are, in the beginning, and not be blinded by 
the “love” of someone who wants too only to hurt them. 

You are loved in return by the people you love first. There's an old
saying to go along with this. “To really love someone you have to love 
yourself first.” I believe this! How can you really love someone if 
you've never experienced the love of yourself first? 

Everyone knows that love can be a one-way street. That's the love of
someone who isn't in love with their self first. They don't know how to 
love, so they can't really give it to someone else. The person who is 
in love with them is beating their self over the head with a brick 
because the person without love of self doesn't know what love is in 
the first place. I think I made that more complicated then it really 
is, but I hope you know what I mean. 

Respect for yourself and for others. When you are in love with someone,
you have a sense of respect because you have exceptions of what a 
person in love is all about. You respect yourself enough to allow 
yourself to be in love and you have respect for the person because 
they're nice enough to love you in return. Again, it goes back to if 
you can't respect yourself, how can you respect someone else? 

Now for the flip side of the coin, hate. What do you really gain by
hating something or someone? I really don't know the answer to this 
question. Yes, I've hated people in the past, for stupid reasons. Yes, 
it's made me do some ignorant stuff. But, did I gain anything from it. 

Well, yes! I gained the feeling of losing out on a great friendship once
because I didn't like someone of the bat. I lost the one person who 
could have made an impact on my life that could have lead to a 
different direction for my life. I missed out on being a true friend to 
someone how needed it. In saying all this the only thing I gained was a 
sense of not being a nice person! 

For when you hate someone just because someone else told you too, which
was the case for me, you not only hurt yourself but the person you hate 
too. Then you feel guilty and start to hate yourself because of it. 

You also gain a sense of disorder in your life. For when you start
living for hate you corrupt the people and places around you. No one 
wants to be your friend because your negativity brings them down. No 
one wants to love you because they know you can't love them in return. 
Who wants to live with someone who lives with a black cloud over their 
heads looking for reasons to hate? I don't! So what do you gain? 
NOTHING. Which makes you question why you hate in the first place, 
doesn't it? If there's nothing to gain for the emotion, why feel it? If 
there's no reason you can learn from it, why teach it? If there's no 
way to escape from a life that isn't worth living, why live this way? 
I'm not saying to kill yourself because you're full of hate! I'm saying 
why hate in the first place? 

In a world like the one we live in day in and day out that is so full of
hate and discord, why are people not teaching to love one other more. 
The Golden Rule is to love other like you would love yourself. If 
that's true, why is there so much hate being taught in homes all across 
this world? 

If we don't start loving each other more, where is it going to get us?
If Jesus were to come back today, just how many people would He take 
with Him that are full of hate? NONE! If He were to come back and see 
what we are teaching our children would He be proud? NO! 

I'm not trying to preach here. That's not my intention! My intention is
to get you to see that in a world, like ours, wouldn't it be better to 
“love thy neighbor” then to try to destroy them and ourselves? 

© by Lori, July 22, 2007


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