How Do You Spell HATE?
Tensions were high in NYC after recent antisemitic attacks. It seemed the news outlets were daily reporting new incidents of hatred.
How can this be happening? In a world that has progressed in healthcare, technology, and knowledge of all kinds, how on earth is this ancient prejudice still growing?
“Mom, how do you spell HATE?” I remember asking as a toothless first grader.
Seeing that I was writing a letter to a friend, she responded sternly using my middle name, “We don’t HATE anyone.”
How did she know I was writing about the boy I hated for teasing me for wearing a Wonder Woman t-shirt? In my small mind, hatred was natural and easy. He deserved being hated for embarrassing me. I could almost see Wonder Woman defeating this schoolyard bully with her Lasso of Truth.
Yet...she said it again, shattering my daydream: “We don’t HATE anyone.”
As adults, we all have felt intense emotions after being cut off while driving, treated unfairly, or embarrassed publicly. Anger is a natural response when something we value is violated.
But anger left unchecked can lead to hatred, bitterness, and prejudice. When we assume the motive of the offender, we step into an ocean of uncertainty. We take it upon ourselves to fill in the gap of information with our own hateful creativity.
For example, we may find ourselves thinking: That woman who cut me off on the way to work was just being selfish and thoughtless while driving this morning!
Yet in reality, perhaps the offender was running on a few hours of sleep and headed to the pharmacy to pick up medicine for her sick kids.
If we had known the whole story, would we have responded so hatefully? Or is it right to conclude that all women driving Priuses are selfish and thoughtless?
The word prejudice comes from two Latin words; prae (in advance) and jusicium (judgment); hence, meaning preconceived judgment or opinion. Our prejudices can be passed down from our family or personally formed over time.
And so we see, time and time again, irrational attitudes of hostility directed against a group or race lead to hate crimes across the world. Hatred always starts with an individual. Since our minds are always looking for patterns or similarities, we can be led to believe the reason for the offenders’ actions was because... (insert reason here!). But can we attribute one person’s action to an entire race?
Making judgment calls on others is an act of pride, especially when we assume we have all the information about someone or a group of people.
One of these recent antisemitic attacks in NYC occurred on a train. The religious Jewish man tried to shield himself from the tirade: a woman accusing him of not renting to her community.
“I don’t even own property,” he reasoned. “I am a person. And you are a person,” he tried to remind her, while speaking reason to her hate-filled speech.
You see, all of the pent-up anger and bitterness this woman had toward the Jewish community was poured out on the innocent head of the yarmulke-wearing Jewish man.
When we attribute the sin of one human being to an entire race or group of people we stop using rational thought and deceive ourselves.
Jesus knew the heart of man and knew the outcome of unchecked hatred.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-44).
Jesus invites us into His family and His way of living. His remedy for hatred is simple: to extend love to your enemies and entrust them in prayer to the One who is the perfect Judge and Father.
His vision is perfect and He knows all things.
He is perfectly balanced in mercy and judgment.
It will take humility and faith to trust His way.
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
So...when we start to spell out HATE in our minds, may the Heavenly Father sternly remind us of His way: We don’t HATE anyone.
Written by Kori, LIFE Staff