How Hate Destroys

It doesn't matter whether you are the hater or the "hatee," hatred is painful and damaging. It is one area, however, where the person feeling the emotion gets hurt the worst, and not just socially. Hatred over a long period of time can be deadly.

Self: If you feel this emotion all the time, it can raise your blood pressure, and it effects your thinking process. It can also take your attention away from things you need to do as you focus on how to get at the person or thing you hate.

Socially, unless you are hanging out with likeminded friends, it can leave you cut off from the rest of the world. It's very hard to stay around someone who is filled with any negative emotion, and this one is powerful enough to present almost an aura of it.

Family: A parent filled with hate instills the idea that this is normal on his or her children. It opens the door for them to also feel hatred, especially if the situation is a nasty divorce. It may make it harder for the children in these cases to grow up and have a normal relationship of their own.

Nation: Poverty, war and death are the end results when an entire nation is filled with hate. All you have to do is look at the news and you will see that it's true. Why are we in the U.S. fighting wars overseas? It's not because we hate, but because the rulers of these nations hate -- or allow large factions in their countries to do so.

So now what? We can see that hate is truly destructive. What are our options? Believe it or not, there is one. It comes from one of my favorite Bible passages; 1 Corinthians Chapter 13:4-8. Love is the only thing that can overcome hate.

That's not easy to do when someone hates you. Our bodies are wired to jump to defense, either verbally or physically. In some cases, you may need to take a negative action to protect others, but that doesn't mean you have to hate the people who are a threat.

Love takes effort when dealing with hate, but the benefits are great. You avoid all the dangers to your body that hatred causes, and you have peace in your soul. That, to me, is the best answer for our selves, families and country.