-to feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward.

Hate sucks – literally, it sucks the humanity out of us. The roots of hate have been with us for as long as we have walked the Earth and one would think that humanity had evolved to a better place. Perhaps not.

The subject of hate has been addressed for thousands of years in philosophy and theology up to and including our present time. Many, from the shores of Galilee to the pulpit of an Atlanta church, have pointed to hate as one of our constant challenges and yet hate still abounds with images and sounds that saturate our senses and burden our spirit. And when hate manifests as violence, humanity diminishes and contributes to the devolution of a society. Bereavement and psychic pain follow.

Where does hate come from and why is it so difficult to control?

We throw the word around a lot – sometimes as an emphasis on an otherwise benign dislike; “I hate broccoli” or “I hate the color of that dress.” Our everyday language is infused with the word and concept. We think little of it.

All too often though, hate is used to characterize our thoughts and feelings about people – individuals and groups. We hear it all the time in the pronouncements of sports fans while discussing their arch rivals. The upwell of emotion about game playing confirms that it is difficult for some of us to navigate the pathways through respectful competition. This difficulty extends into other areas of civil society, particularly into politics where respectful competition has devolved into tribal jousting.

Importantly, hate is recognized as a feeling or emotion, thus it comes from within us and therein is the hope that we can exert some control over its extreme expressions. Our emotions are a powerful and necessary aspect of our humanness, – the empathy we have for one another underlies the creation of a civil society with hate as its antithesis. Empathy builds, hate destroys.

On an individual level, hate requires a great deal of energy. It demands a focus on the subject and binds one to them. The hater loses the thread of their own life while they focus their ire on another – they fail to live for themselves. It is a waste of spirit.

Hateful violence is abhorrent in a civilized society. It is always a moral failure. Martin Luther King, Jr., who himself experienced hate throughout his life up to and including his death, had much to say about it including:

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

King acknowledged that to hate burdens a life and despite hate that was directed at him, chose another way to be. That sounds like evolution to me.

*****

Kevin Deeny