Love and Hate

The world we in live in is filled with all kinds of people who experience many different feelings or emotions on a day to day basis. Amongst those feelings are the two most common types of feelings: love and hate. Both can be depicted everywhere whether it's in real life, movies, books, plays, etc. Everyone experiences or goes through both at least once in their lives. These two emotions can make a person go to extremes. Whether the extremities are positive or negative, too much of anything is bad. Love can be related to peace while hate can lead to war. Although there's a very thin line between love and hate, love still seems to be the more impenetrable mystery.

When talking about the theories of love it is easy to say that there are more than a few. Basically every person has their own theory of love, and it depends on what it is intended to. There are many kinds of love; self-love, mother's love, love towards parents, puppy love, everlasting love, and others. These different types of love have different meanings that vary from person to person. One of the most popular theories on love is that "love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." (Corinthians 13: 4-13, 1989) When love is present it is what matters the most, no obstacle is too big to overcome, and hate does not exist. Contrary to love, "hate, like much of human feeling is not rational, but it usually has its reasons. And it cannot be understood, let alone condemned, without knowing them." (Sullivan, 2010, p. 314, para. 2) When hate is present it leaves no room to love or to be loved. Hate is a blinding selfish feeling that could make someone's actions uncontrollable and unreasonable. The nature of a person is what defines whether this person is a hater or a lover.

In order to understand the nature of love, it is necessary to realize the nature of the lover. A lover could experience countless manifestations of love, but romantic love stands out to be most driven, addicting, and it could also be sexually centered. As Marcus Nordlund mentions in Shakespeare and the Nature of Love: Literature, Culture, Evolution, "to cover widely different forms of love: not only romantic or sexual love, but also paternal and filial affection and, by implication at least, love as a form of social or political duty." (Schalkwyk, 2007) In other words, by not just concentrating on romantic love and instead express love to others in society, this would influence the world to become more peaceful. The nature of peace depends on the capability of people to love each other instead of hating each other, which could lead to greater consequences.

Hate is inevitable and so are the effects that come from it. It is a strong feeling that can be triggered in numerous ways. And due to differences in peoples' beliefs hate can be expressed in racism, political preferences, sexual orientation, cultural background, gender, religion, and through crimes. Hate could be considered irrational but often has its reasons. In order for hate to be criticized or judged, the reasoning behind it must first try to be understood although not justified. Furthermore, it is important to understand that "the hate that comes from knowledge is always different from the hate that comes from ignorance." (Sullivan, 2010, p. 314, para. 2) A person that knows why he or she hates understands the motives behind this hate than a person that hates without a reason. People emotionally driven by hate, confused with the feeling of anger, often are led to violence and war as a final result. War is not just between countries it could also occur between corporations, co-workers, families, and couples. War is not necessarily a bad thing; it is an extreme measure to confront disagreements or feelings between the parties involved.

People often say all is fair in love and war. However, many things are often overlooked by those people that are filled with feelings of love and hate. These could be either positive, negative, or both, depending on the feeling. For instance, in love people tend look past finances, differences, space and distance, qualities, actions, behavior, and/or even life itself. While referring to hate, people usually do not consider things like harm to others and themselves, reasoning, or consequences of their actions. For example, hate crimes committed by someone judging other just because their difference in race, which is the most common of all times.

In Sheehan's Hate Poem, she uses strong emphasis on hate towards her significant other. However, the poem is really about her being in love and cannot be without this person. Her detailed list of things she hates seem to be constant reminders how much she needs him or her in her life. She mentions, "My lungs, duplicitous twins, expand with the utter validity of my hate, which can never have enough of you." (Sheehan, 2010, p. 365) She means that with every breath there is a constant reminder of the love she has for this person. Everything she does involves her significant other whether she wants it this way or not, it is inevitable. She's so in love that it's almost an obsession and she would rather it be hate.

What is it about hate that makes people actions result to violence? Andrew Sullivan depicted what hate means exceptionally well in the What's so bad about hate essay. He begins by describing an infamous case which led to a hate crimes prevention act. Three male white Supremacists picked up a black man walking along a road that was heading home and beat him. They chained his feet together and tied him to the back of their pickup truck dragging him for miles until his body hits a culvert and is split in two. Sullivan continues his essay with many other examples of hate crimes which leads to many questions and very little answers. Why would people commit such horrific acts as a result of their hate? There will never be an answer that could justify these types of actions. Hate is everywhere and either through racism or any other irrational reason it will

People are damaged in their own ways; life has shown me that love can bring peace while hate can lead to war. My first love experience happened in my teenage years and brought me a sense of serenity and unfathomable happiness. At that time, I was certain that it would have been my first and my only but I was wrong. My second love story taught me in its beginning that love still existed even when I thought it never could again. Little did I know that the ending to this story would result in the greatest pain I have ever felt.