Who Is Your Enemy?

Throughout our lives we learn to hate things. Maybe it started with a villain in a book or a movie. Maybe it started with a food, “I hate carrots!”. It could be just about anything. We as humans love to hate that which deserves to be hated. Of course, what we think deserves to be hated. You see, people get things wrong because we aren’t perfect. But sometimes, we really miss the mark. There are a lot of things and people in this world that are hated by others for no good reason. First example that comes to mind: racism. Logically, it doesn’t make any sense to hate another person for something they can’t control. Yet clearly racism exists on a wide scale. Emotions have a way of overriding logic, and when it comes to hate, this creates a lot of problems. Let’s think logically about what actually deserves to be hated. Is it people who commit atrocities? Well, for example, if a person kills someone because they hate the color of their skin, do they deserve hate? You might want to say yes of course, but is it not true that the murderer acquired his or her beliefs from their environment over time? Beliefs don’t just spontaneously form, something external causes human beings to form strong beliefs over time. If we look back in time and see that the murderer’s parents were extreme racists and ingrained those beliefs in their child, does the murderer still deserve to be hated? I don’t think so. Even if that weren’t the case, nobody wakes up one day and decides to hate an entire race. If you trace back their life, you’ll find somewhere along the way they were misled to believe what they believe. This is true for all people, everywhere. People can only act with the information they have been presented thus far. If a person was never taught proper morals, and they do something terrible, they can’t be at fault for their actions. What I am saying is that everything bad can be traced back to a series of events that led to it happening. Furthermore, nobody is at fault for their actions. Therefore, nobody deserves to be hated. In practice what does this look like? Well, I hate Donald Trump. I think he is a terrible human being who is only out for himself. But he is not at fault for the way he is. He was born into a wealthy household and had a extremely privileged upbringing. We all know that this does not instill good values and honorable character traits. He built his businesses off of exploitation and a dog-eat-dog mentality. That is all he knows, so his actions reflect that. People are a product of their environment. It isn’t wise to hate another human being. You can hate their actions and their words, but not the person. If other people are not your enemy, then what is? I’ll tell you what is: the stresses of life. We as humans are all on the same team fighting against the stresses of life. It is unfortunate that people confuse their enemy with other people, but know that all hatred towards others is inherently invalid. We are fighting against the forces that make people this way, that cause people suffering. It is humanity’s goal to reduce these stresses and suffering as much as possible for everyone so that we may all lead happier and more fulfilling lives. The more you think about it the more apparent it becomes. We are on the same team.