Hate Thy Neighbor As Thy Self

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate them.

Booker T. Washington
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I have genuinely tried to remember the last time in my adult life that I hated someone. I have been appalled by some subhuman behavior and disgusted by the arrogance of the selfish and self important. But hatred is not an emotion that has lived in me. I am certain to forgive wrongs done to me and to bear harsh criticism not with a smile but with a patient hurt.

There was a young woman in New York who took to hating me because I corrected her work. It was my job to correct her work and I didn't do it harshly or with an angry or insulting tone. But for some reason she could not bear to be corrected by me. The 5 or 6 times I saw her after that she would sit straight up on the edge of her chair and glare at me like a wild beast reedy to strike. We never once spoke to each other. I don't think about her and it doesn't matter what she thinks of me, but she carries with her a threat which controls at least a part of her life.

Lately I've been noticing with alarm the teeth gnashing venom that comes from some parts of this country against other parts. I see and hear bald hatred against our president, our government, our nation, our constitution. People are hissing hatred against minorities, against blacks, Latinos, Mexicans. So-called Christians are spreading hatred of Islam. Some Conservatives are spreading hatred of the Democrats and Liberals. Some people actually want to change the Constitution in order to exclude other people. Some people's lives are controlled by anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia. Some people are grouping to prevent the happiness of same sex marriages and saying that "God hates fags" thereby lending their own hatred to a God who is incapable of hate.

It isn't just a matter of difference of opinion, nor is it a matter of scriptural authority whatever passage they may find to quote, it's a matter of insanity. People who quote the Constitition on Monday to support their own prejudice will try to rewrite the Constitution on Tuesday because it doesn't fit with their prejudice. Racism is rampant. One religion wants to dominate the country and tries to cite nonexistent reasons for it. Rational adult thinking has been left in the dust.

Road rage is alive and well. Some people will not put up with giving anyone else the same space they demand for themselves. Selfishness and a false sense of entitlement fill the sidewalks, streets and neighborhoods. There are guard dogs and attack dogs alive to protect the nasty people from the nice people.

There are good people in the world. People who will wait for you if you are trying to turn a corner, who will let you get in front of them in a supermarket line if you only have one or two things to purchase, who will let you know if you accidentally drop something and who will let you have your own opinions without yelling at you and shouting about how stupid you are.

I'm grateful I live in a neighborhood of good people. If you're a some-of-a-bitch don't come here. You won't be hated, but you won't be welcome unless you shape up and join the rest of us adults.

DB - The Vagabond
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Weekend Puzzle

Sci Fi Story

(an easy one)

A man gets on a bus in Boston at 1:45 and travels for half an hour.
When he gets off the bus it's 1:15

DB