Revenge is the Saddest Thing

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seek to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Throgh violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive our darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-Marting Luther King, Jr.

I was sitting in my Statistics class today and I saw this quote up on the wall. I don't know who put it there or when it was tacked up, but it struck me when I read it. I think a lot of times people tend to think as something physical, but it definitely can be something more than that. Violence stems from hatred. And hatred stems form violence. It seems as though it is a neverending circle. But it doesn't have to be. You know the song "Let Peace Begin with Me." I'm sure you do. If everyone just started promoting peace in their personal lives, bigger conflicts could be solved. If people would drop their hatred and their prejudices the world woule be an amazing place.

I'm not saying that it's easy to just go ahead and drop your hatred, but once you do, you feel so much better. When I have hatred in me, it weighs me down. It makes it hard for me to go on with the rest of my life because this nasty feeling inside of me distracts me from anything else. I honestly hate seeing people suffer. When I am upset with someone, I might think violent thoughts or wish bad things upon them, but if anything actually happened to him or her, I would be devastated. I cannot stand seeing others in pain. I'm an extremely empathetic person and it is really difficult for me many times because I see the pain that others are going through and I feel the same pain. I don't understand how people can get pleasure from the misery of others. Hanging onto something for revenge or for punishment just ends up hurting me more in the end.

It's still January. Resolutions can be made now, they can be made at any time of the year. Let go of hatred. Let go of bitterness. Let go of revenge. We have a new year and a new president, and with government funding of abortion we need as much peace as we can get.

I love you.
Hilary