Tag: hate

When Did We Learn to Hate Each Other

When did we learn to hate each other?
Not trusting each other
Any further than I could throw you
Or you could throw me?
It is not just that we disagree.
Or see the world from different perspectives.
Or grew up in different communities.
Big city. Small town.
Surrounded by people. Surrounded by fields.
Somehow it is more than that.

I remember a time
Or think that I do
When “my side” didn’t agree with “yours”
And when “your side” didn’t agree with “mine”
But somehow we could still manage to talk
And to figure something out.
And while neither of us got all we wanted
The solution we arrived at
Compromised on
Moved all of us forward, a bit.
And maintained the fabric of our communities.
Maybe even strengthened it.

But not now.
There is no building up.
Only tearing down.
And apart.
And, winning
At whatever the cost.
Is this how we really want it to be?

The Opposite of Love

Today’s quote from Sojourners:
There are two basic motivating forces love and fear.
When we are afraid we pull back from life.
When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. – John Lennon

Is that true?
That the opposite of love is not hate, but fear?
Fear of what comes next.
Fear of those who are different.
Fear of what we do not know.
Fear of losing what we do know.
If that is so, would that change how we respond to others?
Instead of working to overcome hate, we would seek to alleviate fear.
What questions would we ask?
What attitude would we adopt?
What would we do different than what we are doing now?

Just asking.
And, wondering…..

Remembering His Birthday

His birthday was yesterday.
He would have been 85.
And, on Monday, we celebrate the day set aside to honor him.
Since his death in 1968, we have lionized him and rightly so.
His wisdom and words continue to move us and to inspire us.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only the light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

‘I have a dream…”

And while we remember and cherish and hold onto his words, we must also remember how controversial and challenging he was, and how much, when he was alive, some feared and hated him. The Civil Rights Movement was not merely about the words he spoke, but it was about police dogs and fire hoses and bombings and lynchings. It was about taunts and threats and secret FBI investigations. He was assassinated not so much because of what he said, but because of what he was doing and what he stood for. And others who stood with him were also killed or injured or jailed or lost their jobs. And, when he spoke out against the Vietnam War in a sermon at Riverside Church in New York City, he was vilified for his remarks.

I am mindful of this today because, in death, we have tamed Martin Luther King, Jr.
And, if he were alive today I think he would be anything, but tame.
At least that is my hope.
I hope he would be finding some way to turn us around and point us in the direction of peace.
I hope he would be chiding and coaxing and encouraging us to hang on for dear life as we do what we can to bend that long arc of history in the direction of justice.

That is the Martin Luther King, Jr. I want to remember.
The Martin Luther King, Jr., I believe, we need to remember.

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Several things I believe: