Within most of the world, most people would assume that more of something is better than less. This would apply to more money than less, a great job not a poor one, a big house not a tiny one, more friends than less, and more peace than strife. All of these usual desires are not frivolous nor are they wrong. 

One of the best attributes, however, is that where we carry no hatred for anyone or anything. Hatred, unfortunately, is alive and well in many parts of the world and this does not exclude developed countries at all. Everyday, one can read or see news clips of graffiti painted on mosques, or crosses burned outside the home of a mixed black couple, or the beating of a teenager who has just come to be known as gay. 

"I have only managed to live so long by carrying no hatred." ~ Winston Churchill

In the course of a lifetime, there are many issues that can cause one to become so jaded that everything about that particular situation causes immediate anger or worse. These situations may be encountered because of past experiences, or the way you were brought up or as a result of social conditioning - social conditioning, I might add, in the wrong way. 

The problem of hatred is that you carry it with you wherever you go and it constantly erodes the inner fabric of your life. Hatred is much the same as mounting stress, which, as we all know, can lead to devastating results and even leading to being one of the causes of eventually terrible medical problems.

I have known several individuals, unfortunately, who keep hatred close to their heart and with them day in and day out. This was such the case several years when I attended a seminar in Missouri. During a lunch break, I wandered over to a local mall. At this mall, all I saw were Caucasians going from store to store with no African Americans anywhere. I thought this was a bit strange since the area I was in was made up of a large African American population. I also observed, though, armed police officers on patrol. 

It was with curiosity that I approached one of the police officers and struck up a conversation. It wasn't long before I asked him why he was in the mall and not on patrol. He turned to me as if I was some dumb northerner and simply said that his presence was a duty assignment to keep all blacks out of the mall.

I won't stoop to the real language he used only to say that he used very derogatory terminology and went on to say that they were all trouble makers and posed nothing but problems over and over again. In fact, he told me that he had special ammunition in his revolver reserved just for them - which meant a bullet that was intended to do as much physical harm as possible to its victim. Hatred was alive and well. 

From speaking with old colleagues who know this area of the country quite well, it seems that nothing much has changed over the years - same old hatred, same old problems exacted because of the same old hatred. 

This incident occurred many years ago, and it is my hope that today such prejudice would not be occurring. Let's hope if I visited that mall today that everyone would be welcome.

 

If you want to stay mired in hatred, a hatred that erodes your humanity, than you are not only causing tremendous hurt to others but also to yourself.