The Triumph of Hate?
I was recently watching a video from the good folks at Playing for Change. In particular, I was watching their rendition of Peace Train by Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam. The song was released when I was quite young and, at the time, I found the tune and the lyrics very inspirational. The Playing for Change version was released in 2021. Stevens/Islam generated a fair amount of criticism for his comments in support of Sharia law in the matter of Salman Rushdie. Since then it appears he’s somewhat reversed course however watching the video, which features musicians from, among other places, Palestine, India and Pakistan, I was reminded of how little progress we, as a species, have made in the matter of creating peace and erasing hate.
Today, hatred may be the single most powerful human emotion directing our words and deeds both individually and as a species. In the United States we have warring political groups both of which embrace hate. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party embrace hatred like never before and as mindlessly as a raging animal. There is genuine hatred directed at both supporters of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. In the Middle East, the ongoing fighting and slaughter in Israel, the Gaza Strip and West Bank are the fruits of hatred. I don’t believe the future of our species has ever been more greatly at risk by unbridled hatred.
Hatred, as I’ve stated before, is born of emotions. All one need do to understand that a life lived based on emotions rather than reason and Love is dangerous, is check the news. In the United States, there are scores of incidents of hatred almost daily. Whether it’s an attack on members of a Synagogue, Mosque, dance studios, nightclubs or students in school the root cause has always been the same - hatred.
Certainly some of that hatred begins with self-hatred. Individuals who find their lives to be an unending source of pain grow to hate those they believe foment their self-loathing. So too religious fanatics (and EVERY religion has them) who view those who don’t share their faith as a genuine threat to their beliefs and faith will act against them because of uncontrolled emotions. Even human sexuality seems to be a source of self-hatred. Regardless of what anyone may say publicly, a huge number of Americans and people throughout the world HATE those who find members of their own gender sexually or romantically attractive.
Hatred can only lead to destruction and its own perpetuation. Put otherwise, hatred begets hate and nothing more. “Crimes of passion” typically are rooted in hatred. In a world where uncontrolled emotions are the basis for making choices the outcome can rarely, if ever, be positive. Even the least jaded view of the world as it exists today is less than positive. What are those unwilling to surrender to their emotions and eschew the use of reason and love to do? In the end it is only in rejecting hate and a world driven by human emotions that our species can even hope to survive.
The only answer to hate is Love. Love in its truest sense not as some emotional outgrowth. Love requires choice. Love requires reason. Love demands that we NOT allow our emotions to be the genesis of our choices. When Jesus of Nazareth admonished his followers to “LOVE one another” he did NOT mean they should have feelings and emotions towards one another, he meant they should choose what is right and just. When someone you love is hungry, you show your love by feeding them. When someone you love is in pain, you show that love by offering them comfort. Love is doing for others regardless of one’s feelings. Love is the channel through which we send our emotions to become a force for righteousness and goodness. Love requires we lend a hand even to those with whom we disagree, even to those who have hurt us emotionally, even to those who seem to lack compassion and goodness.
Unlike hate, love nurtures. Love doesn’t only beget love, it negates hatred. Love is offering kindness to all without strings or conditions. Love never rests because our fellow humans’ trials and tribulations are constant. Love nourishes our souls and helps us build bridges of peace and understanding, it warms our hearts in the coldest of climates. Love endures and it alone can lead us to a place where only love reigns.