I have a steadfast belief that love is what makes our World move, change, and improve. Love is what powers our successes; it is the fuel of our dreams and the foundation of progress to create a more compassionate and equitable world. But too often it seems that dissatisfaction, unhappiness and even hate is what motivates too many people. Is hate a darker form of “power”? A desire to tear apart the aspirations of others? To drag others down to a low level? Sadly, it has been proven time and time again that hate can be expressed with the same intensity(possibly even more) than love and compassion. But there is a difference, a key difference.
Hate consumes one; it eats away at you emotionally, psychologically, and eventually, even physically. Hate turns one against one’s self, as well as pushing others away. Hate is for the ones who don’t wrap banality in a nice package, for those who don’t sell “clichés” because they are lucky enough to stay out of “socially approved standards”. They don’t have to pretend to care, hate has already spread like cancer through their body and soul.
Love spreads outward, it is contagious in a wonderful way that spreads joy, caring, and compassion in our own communities, and around the globe. Love creates; love spreads around us like a warm blanket on a cold night. Hate is like a starving snake that has wrapped itself around one’s neck. Hate suffocates hope. Love gives; hate takes.
Do I hate? I didn’t know if I was capable. I didn’t know how to “define” hate. Where do we draw the line between dislike, disgust, and hate? The intensity of one’s emotions is not something you can measure with a ruler; hate is not something you will learn more about by reading books. The human body was designed, and is capable of, working like a perfectly tuned machine. But often we may start to feel exhausted, frustrated, and bitter. Have we started to hate? At this point, many things may even start to affect your health. For me, this was the point when I realized that hate is far more emotionally and physically consuming (not in a good way) than is love.
Is hate something you feel or have felt? Is it something you may have not yet realized that you do feel? Very little time will pass and soon your body and mind will “tell you” things are not right. The specific signs may vary, but hate sickens, and festers like an infected wound, but one that spoils from the inside out. I don’t think it’s necessarily a matter of one choosing to hate, or “catching hate” as one can catch a cold. If so, hate would be a specific diagnosis recognized in the medical profession. I think hate may be the mind’s attempt to liberate itself when one becomes overwhelmed with frustration, ongoing injustice, and cruelty. When others you interact with (even without your noticing) make you a different person. When you are convinced (or convince yourself?) to place blame, to show anger towards others.
And the person you know yourself to be, the person you strive to be, you were born to be, becomes twisted and warped.
I absolutely believe that a person is born pure, innocent, and capable of great good. But certain elements in society take a toll on an individual’s capacity to love. Yet other elements can nurture kindness, caring, and love. These external influences shape us, and change who we believe ourselves to be, and who we are.
Will our change be for good or for bad? Do we love or hate?
I leave you with these thoughts on my first blog. I sincerely hope you will continue to follow my posts, and keep updated on the crucial work ROLDA does to improve the lives of so many animals, and the poor people that want so badly to protect their pets.
Until next time!
Dana