Sparks, Explosion, Mushroom Cloud: The Story of Hate

“La haine attire la haine” is a quote by writer and movie director Mathieu Kassowitz. It translates into “hate attracts hate”.  Sadly, it does, but hopefully, that is not the end of it.

Let’s start with a small example. If a cashier at a supermarket checkout is surly and grumpy, your immediate reaction is either to not engage, followed by an unpleasant, heavy silence or to be grumpy back.

Conversely, if the cashier is smiley, friendly and chatty, you can’t help but be smiley and friendly back.  Many cashiers are trained to engage with the customers.  Even when that is the case, I still find myself responding in a similar manner.  The atmosphere is lighter and the ‘trained’ often becomes genuine.

It’s all down to energy.  We all carry an energy field around us and it affects anyone who comes into its orbit.  A disturbed, angry or depressed person can walk into a room and that whole room immediately darkens and feels heavier.  If a happy, bubbly person walks in, it’s as though a light has been switched on automatically and everyone feels lighter.

Think of neighbours.  If they disagree, whether it is over trimming hedges, parking cars or something bigger, it starts off with annoyance, simmering into anger, and then boiling over into all-out war, each one trying to outdo the other, often with disastrous results.  We’re talking about vindictive violence and destruction, court cases and there have even been cases of murder involved as things spiral out of control.  Yikes! Talk about a breeding ground of hate!

And what is it with road rage?  What turns often normally reasonable people into positive psychos when they get behind the wheel?

You only have to read the newspapers to discover a daily diet of hate-led violence, destruction, cruelty and murder.

The resurgence of knife crime in Britain gains momentum with every new story you hear about.  It’s becoming acceptable to stab someone to death for the flimsiest of reasons.  Where does all this hate and anger come from?  I often wonder if it is not fanned by the amount of sensational media coverage that abounds these days.  Unfortunately the anger and pain becomes magnified in the feelings of the family and friends of the victims.  Even reading about these multitudinous, heinous crimes and their prevalence arouses anger and all sorts of emotions in the reader. Similarly, endless damage is caused on social media by evil trolls, who anonymously hide behind their keyboards. They do not care about the psychological damage their bullying causes, even now that it has led to many cases of suicide.

It is also really hard to understand the workings of the minds of the people who undertake honour killings or revenge murder, whether it’s the mafia type, unrequited love, or even worse, murdering innocent children to just to spite a partner!

On a completely different note, it disturbs me when people talk about ‘battling’ cancer. With any battle, whatever you fight, fights back!  There should rather be an attitude of acceptance, non-aggressive but appropriate treatment, then letting go and allowing it to leave.  In some cases that might be easier said than done, but attitude counts for a LOT.

And now for the big one … war!  When disagreements between countries escalate into all-out war, heavy, dark clouds gather (to put it mildly!) over the area involved and sometimes the whole world, as in the case of the two world wars.  Everyone is familiar with the destruction, genocide, tragedy and everlasting horror that results.

Even then, the stories of incredible heroism, love, kindness, sharing and support, manage to surface time and time again, even between warring parties, creating a shaft of sunlight in the dark clouds.  Extreme situations often bring out the best in people as well as the worst.  A well-known story from the first World War was when a truce was called on Christmas Eve.  There was an incredible sharing of goodwill and Christmas cheer over the opposing sides of the battle line…only for them to resume fighting the next day!

On a lighter note, I had an uncle who refused to buy a German car after the war because of anti-German feeling but married a German girl!  Oh, the irony!

Religion and racism are two of the worst causes of antagonism and a breeding ground of hate. Religious wars go back thousands of years.  What is it about religion that inspires such hate and travesty between those of differing beliefs?  It is meant to teach us how to live happily, in harmony and forgiveness.  Human nature has a lot to learn.

Racist taunts, attacks and murder are a daily occurrence all over the world. It’s an exaggerated form of playground bullying. Why can’t we accept people who are different – for whatever reason?

In South Africa there is a very high crime rate.  A lot of it stems from decades of apartheid.  The repression and deprivation of those years has created a groundswell of anger and resentment against the repressors.  Stealing is not regarded as a crime.  It is merely ‘taking back what is owed’ and murder is ‘payback time’.  However, this does not apply to all the population.  There are still many people of all races who live, love, laugh, share and work together enabling more shafts of sunlight to pierce the clouds.

I can’t go without mentioning politicians!  It was politicians who created apartheid. The majority of the white population were against it.  Unspeakable evil has been perpetrated by various world leaders.  Prime examples are Hitler with his powerful, mesmerising speeches and some of the more despotic, self-serving African leaders.  There are many others.

On a lesser scale, British politicians have created a hornet’s nest over the past three years over divided opinions about Brexit.  The hornets are getting louder and increasing in number as the name calling, mud-slinging, devious strategies and downright hysteria escalate to an alarming level. Similar situations have arisen in America and other countries, making democracy difficult to achieve.

There are still shafts of sunlight piercing through the dark clouds of hate, but wouldn’t it be nice if the sun pushed those clouds aside completely and turned everything into ‘love attracts love’ instead?