Too little time to hate?

Yesterday, I tried to express a feeling I had about the excesses of ideological partisanship and how they can effect us interiorly. I was not speaking of anyone, specifically (except myself) but rather I was thinking about left and right, about how our political passions can overrun our humanity, sometimes, and make us behave in ways that seem quite outside of our instincts. I didn’t write it well, though, and I ticked off a few people.

I’m not apologizing for it; I said nothing meant to anger anyone and – as I said – my finger was pointed at myself, first and foremost. I felt I could speak to the issue because I had so often fallen victim to the passion.

But Sigmund has found a much better way to say it:

In making the decision who best represents interests, consider this: Anyone who really wants to help his fellow man or represent the best interests of citizens, will not make the focus of their work speaking of human weaknesses, failures and hate. They will speak of man’s great potential and the possibility of participating in good works. More than anything, they will let their love for their fellow man and good works speak for them.
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Mother Teresa rarely talked about her work. She went out and did what needed to be done. When she needed money to continue her good works, she demanded that we help- because that would tap into our higher and better selves. We too, could share in those works. She had no harsh words for those of different opinion.

Contrast that, for example, with Rachel Corrie and the ISM. Neither Corrie or the ISM were Mother Teresas, in any sense of the word. Despite noble statements to the contrary, their entire raison d’etre was and remains to promote and publicize an agenda of hate. Their website, and others like them, are filled not only with hate, but instructions on how best to hate.

Mother Teresa and her Order had no time to hate. There was too much work to be done. Rachel Corrie and her ilk had no time to get the job done. There was too much hate to spew.

Like I said, he said it better than I. You’ll want to read the whole thing. We all of us do it, sometimes, let our passions get the better of us and spout off, and if we feed that, we find we are like little computers set for scorn, who cannot reboot – we get stuck on cynical, stuck on the sneer.

We might all do it, sometimes…but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to maintain a sense of just how far we are going, and know when we are out of control.