Do You Need Someone To Hate?

I don’t understand all of the hatred and vitriol in the world today. It seems like you can’t read the news or turn on the TV without seeing an example of hate crimes and prejudice. Whites hating blacks, blacks hating whites, Christians hating Muslims, Muslims hating Jews, straights hating gays…the lists go on and on.

When I say I don’t understand this, I mean it. I truly, truly don’t.

How can you hate someone based on color?

I grew up with a lot of Italians. By late summer, many of them were darker than black people I knew. Did we hate them for it? Of course not.

How can you hate someone because of their religion?

My mother was Methodist; my father was Catholic. My wife is Episcopalian, my daughter is Jewish, one son is Buddhist, and the other agnostic. Do I hate any of them? Of course not.

How can you hate someone based on sexual preferences?

I doubt there is a family (or at least an extended family) in this country who doesn’t have at least one gay person. Maybe you don’t know it, but it’s probably true. Would you hate them if you knew? I hope not.

If you are one of the haters, and if you have an explanation, please share it with us. If you can’t cite a reason, I have to assume that you want to hate. But if you want to hate, really want to, I can give you so many better people and things to hate.

Who Should You Hate

Hate the woman who paid to have her daughter raped by multiple men.

Hate the people in this video on pig abuse””if you can bear to watch it.

Hate the boys from Steubenville, OH, who raped the girl and took videos of it.

Hate the men who poisoned 87 elephants so they could get ivory.

Hate the drug dealers who poison so many of our children.

Hate the child pornographers, who we somehow can’t seem to catch.

Hate the thousands of senseless acts of violence that occur every single day.

And finally, when you run out of people to hate””then you can hate the haters. There are plenty of them.

Bottom Line

I’ve given you plenty of reasons to hate. You don’t need to hate someone because they’re black or brown, or Jew or Muslim or Christian, or gay or lesbian or straight, or anything else. Hate someone for their actions not their color, or religion, or life preferences.

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Giacomo Giammatteo writes gritty crime dramas about murder, mystery, and family, along with nonfiction books on grammar, writing, and publishing. You can see all his books here.