I learned about hatred when I was five. My father was brutal in his torment of my mother and eventually, me. I grew up bullied for everything. Between how I spoke, to gravitating more towards He-Man and Star Wars (rather than wanting to be an athlete or hip-hop star), I caught heat from all sides.
I grew into a progressive, left-leaning Christian who doesn’t bash sexual orientations (God loves everyone). I’ve lived in diehard Trump country for the past five years. My son, no angel himself, would come home with the most abhorrent messages on his phone. Parents of ‘friends’ would call him ‘sand n****r’ and that’s just the one I knew about. Please believe me when I say: I am familiar with the alluring, corrosive power of hatred.
When I read about a racist Overwatch Team getting banned for being racist and doing racist things, figured it must be Tuesday.
It got me thinking. Why can’t we just do away with hatred? If there are so many kind, empathic people who can think beyond themselves, and want to make the world a better place, why can’t we free ourselves of this?
Isaiah 45:7 reads: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
Please relax. This will not get preachy and I’m not trying to convert anyone.
Knowing evil comes from God brings some small comfort, but when hatred is relentless and empowered, it can feel overwhelming. Why is this? Why do some people love seeing other people suffer?!
Because the struggle makes it worth it.
It took me a long time to figure that out. If we had nothing to overcome, we’d have nothing to celebrate.
Every human being has the capacity for hatred. The wrong day, the wrong circumstance, who knows what any of us might do? Hatred is just as natural as any of the other emotions.
We have a choice. This is one of life’s great tests. It’s not a test of faith because faith isn’t for anyone. This is a test of humanity. Can we be better than our darkest impulses?
The world breaks everyone. Not everyone puts themselves back together. The genuine tragedy is who else they take with them.
That’s where the rest of us come in.
We found the strength to be better than what happened to us. We swore to never let it happen to anyone again, knowing it was a fool’s errand. Every time we see injustice happening in the world, we speak out against it. We don’t always win. If we did, we’d have nothing to appreciate. It’s the losses that strengthen us. It’s the hate we experience that makes us want to be better.
Without hate, we’d have no empathy, no love, no desire to be better and nothing to struggle against.
I’ve learned to take hatred as it comes; the part of life that makes the rest of it easier to appreciate. Something to rise above.
Thanks for reading.
Avery K. Tingle is a retired hellraiser and current author living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. He writes Battle Scifi/Fantasy (Star Wars meets Street Fighter) that’s currently available on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes& Noble, and most other major retailers.
Avery K. Tingle, The Gamer Author 
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