Victoria's Secret, Brussels Sprouts & Hate.

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is a part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. --Herman Hesse

Hate is a strong word.
The feeling is even more powerful.

Jesus claimed we would be hated for how we loved, not for what we hated.
I wonder what my life would look like if I took that to heart?

I remember I hated Brussels sprouts as a kid. Like all life-enhancing and yummy vegetables my mom served the Brussels sprouts from a can. Just the odor that filled the kitchen was enough to make me lose my appetite.

People can be like Brussels sprouts, can’t they? Just the scent of them can conjure negative feelings.

Someone at seminary once told me she hated me because I used to be in advertising. Like stinky lukewarm watered-down Brussels sprouts, my presence reminded her of her inadequacies and all she hated and so she made-up her mind to hate me. So much for, "If you say you love God and hate your fellow man you are a liar and the truth is not in you."

This particular self-professed follow of Jesus blamed me for her life-long feelings of inferiority that was brought on, according to her, by the bombardment of advertisements. I can certainly understand how ads can perpetuate a toxic message but this did not stop her from tuning into The Bachelor or Survivor each week and raving about the men she viewed.

I told her that Victoria’s Secret wasn’t my account, but that I was fairly certain that Victoria’s Secret ran ads on these shows thereby funding her entertainment and fueling her hatred for me… and herself.

I mean, if you are going to hate, at least take responsibility for your hate. I recognize the power and evil that is prevalent in condescending messages, but this person didn’t hate me she actually hated herself for what she perceived herself to be.

She blamed me... and she blamed the ads.
She needed a place to vent her hate. She became lost in her hate.

Hate does that, doesn’t it?

Hate hurts.
Hate hurts the hated.
Hate hurts the hater.

Love heals.
Love loves the hated

What do you hate?

If we can find someone or something to blame and to become our enemy we can often justify our hatred.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.