5.1.23 // Hate

Hate: "intense or passionate dislike."
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It's a word we learn when we're young, but we don't start to internalize and truly understand it until we grow older. When I finally started to understand the heaviness of that word it sat on my tongue with a sour bitterness that grated against the soft warmth of my mouth. It is a curse word stronger than any other because it is a word that is always used 'against' something or someone. It can't be used to express anything but darkness, fear, and hurt...
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But how can we hate something if we are always changing? If our views are always being challenged and if our perspectives are continually growing?
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Sure, perhaps we can hate something with certainty in a moment, but when the moment is gone and we continue to change, do we actually continue to hate the thing? Or are we instead holding steadfast to a verbal commitment or intangible thought we assume we have to keep?
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It's funny, the human brain and the culture that surrounds us push us towards labeling things, places, and people with a like or dislike, a love or hate, so we can understand the world better through our limited lens.
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Maybe that isn't a bad thing, to have likes and loves to guide us forward, dislikes and hatred to protect us. But I think we underestimate the power of the sour bitterness of hate, which can ruin the sweet, delicate feelings of our likes and loves.
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And with that underestimation, I think it's time we eradicate hate. Can we learn to live without hate? I think we can, and I think we have to. Hate doesn't keep us safe, it keeps us hidden. Hate keeps us in pain and slowly kills our tastebuds until they die.
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Hate has no room in a ​life so ready for love.