Combating Hate
“The pen is mightier than the sword” is a phrase first attributed to English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 who contended that written communication and/or support of a free press is a more effective weapon than actual violence in bringing about resolution and change.
Wow, let’s think about that for a moment. The printed words above illustrate a mighty piece of information to which we all need to adhere. Let’s put it into practice with a real troubling question: how do we combat hate?
There are many people in this world that live on hate. They hate everything. They hate anything that is different from them. They hate anything that may keep them from getting what they believe they deserve. They hate to wait and hate to forgive. They have people in their life for the sole purpose to hate them. Hate makes them feel strong and in control. Some people are so full of hate, they go out and kill innocent people on purpose. Hate is a common and powerful force in our world. We have not become enlightened on this particular issue yet in our human development. How can we not hate haters?
Because we can’t.
We cannot go out to destroy the weapon of hate and use hate to do it. It creates a great deal of hypocrisy and ultimately says that we didn’t believe it in the first place. No, we are not going to eradicate hate with a violent, intolerant attitude. There’s actually very little that we can do about all the hate that is out there. I firmly believe that hurting people hurt people and that it appears that many are hurting right now regardless how great we all really have it.
We defeat hate by refusing to hate anyone or anything. We establish a position of love and we hold onto it tightly. We do something to carry this message of good to a world where most of the news is bad. For me, that is why I write my blog.
I pick up my pen every day and intentionally try to write an uplifting and insightful piece that shares the good news and passes on this message. I predicate all of this on the tenets of love. I choose to love the crap out of everybody and it drives haters nuts! This is a real experience for me that I put into practice by sending out an alternative message to all the hateful stuff being communicated out there. If I can share 400 to 500 words every couple of days about what is good and truly helpful, I am fighting the good fight against what is bad and destructive. When one puts their beliefs into print, one truly establishes their position. As such, I will continue to pick up pen and write the best positive messages I can, every day I can.
There has to be someone who’s interested in this stuff and I write this for them. If I can just successfully convince one other person to believe this is true, I will have taken two haters out of the world and that’s a damn good start.
Thank you
Jim
James A. Francetich is a freelance writer and author. The opinions expressed are solely of the author and do not represent any community based recovery programs, private or public entities or any governmental agencies.