My Retirement Years - Why Hate?
Recently a “I hate that person” Facebook
posting within my Facebook community creates
quite a stir. A famous
young singer is disliked by one of my Facebook friends. His harsh comments made toward her,
especially using the word “hate” surprises me.
Hate is a strong word; to hate
someone, one must have a strong feeling towards that person. Family members do not get along, co-workers disagree
on projects, husband and wife have heated quarrels, all can create a very
unpleasant experience and eventually end up hating each other, that I can understand. Hating a stranger whom you never meet, never have
a relationship, and never even exchange a conversation, I question from where
that hatred comes? There is old Chinese
saying, “hate is the oppositive of love, someone you ended up in hating must be
someone you once loved so deeply”.
Nowadays,
you can read so much criticism towards Prince Harry and his wife Meghan
Markle. Many people HATE the
couple. The volume of dreadful postings trashing
them on the internet startles me. Some
people even devote their entire career to write assaulting messages about the
couple! I am not a fan of Prince Harry
and his wife. I may be bothered by their ignorance and disrespectful of the ancient
British royal cultures and rules that were established and formed for reasons
that are beyond their comprehension, but I certainly do not hate them! Their choice
of living is none of my concerns. Afterall,
why should we get upset over someone whom you are not related to, don’t care
about or love? As for my Facebook friend, I think what he really
wanted to say was: he dislikes that person. The word “hate” is not a true reflection of
his actual emotion. To dislike someone
is probable. It simply means disagreeing
with them on certain issues, which is totally acceptable.
When we become intensely critical
of a stranger, unconsciously, a negative mental and physical emotion inside you
is ignited.
“Don’t hate anyone for it kills your happiness.”
We should focus on something is
more productive, someone means something to you. How a stranger chooses to live his/her life
is really nobody’s business.