Hate? Or Love.

I see you posting things against homosexuals and people on welfare.  Maybe it's only because it's not politically correct that you don't post against African Americans.  You don't particularly like the Mexicans and illegal immigrants. You make sure we know how much you hate these types of people getting in the way of your rights as an American.  You think that Muslims threaten your way of life and Asians should just stay on the other side of the ocean.

It wasn't that long ago in our history - within only the last fifty years, that it was common to hear words of hatred about Germans and Italians, Poles and the Irish.

My grandmother lived in Massachusetts and I was so surprised when she told me to be careful because of the dirty Irish who lived across the hall in her apartment building.  They were a nice, young couple and I had no idea that being Irish was something to be ashamed of.

The thing about hate ... I wonder when you're going to decide there's something about me or my lifestyle that you hate and soon you'll be posting nasty things about me.  Or maybe when you post these things, you don't realize that you might be attacking someone's sister or brother, their child whom they love more than life itself; maybe you are attacking my best friend or an aunt or uncle of mine.

You know ... it's easier to hate than it is to love and show mercy.

When we love someone, we expose a tender part of ourselves, we make ourselves vulnerable to the world.  But, when we hate or spew words of hate and condemnation, we close ourselves off. We separate ourselves from those who are different from us. That's a lot easier to do.

Jesus didn't call us to hate.  He called us to love.

When he was asked what the greatest commandment (of the Ten Commandments (and by the way - hating homosexuals or welfare recipients, or blacks or Jews or Mexicans or Germans or Irish, Muslims or Asians isn't in that list either) ), he said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And then he followed that up by saying that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor.

Your neighbor isn't the person who lives next to you on the street where you chose to live.  Your neighbor is everyone, whether they are gay, poor, black, Jewish, Mexican, Muslim, Asian, German or Irish.

Maybe you'll tell me that you aren't posting things out of hate - you just think that your words are the right way to live and if I don't agree, that's my problem.  The thing is - it is hate-filled.  You don't post these things because you care about those people or want to show mercy to them.  You post these things because it offends you that they live the way they do and you want the world to know that.  It's hate.

Today, if you choose to hate rather than to love, to post vile and hate-filled words on your wall; you might get a lot of 'likes' because it's easy for others to hate, too.  But, remember - when you do that, you are choosing to alienate people and instill fear in others who wonder what little thing it will take for you to hate them or say terrible things about them.  We're all pretty fallible.  The world doesn't all conform to the standards you set from your portion of the universe.

Open your heart, open your mind today.  Show a little love and compassion.