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November 23, 2005
Is it ok to hate people that do bad things?
Today I heard an interesting view on this. She said it was unnatural and unreal to hide our hate for someone who does bad things. Because if we hate them, and admit that we hate them, then we can also forgive them. Without hating them we don't have anything to forgive. I can kind of see her point. Of course we don't want to carry hate for a person around with us forever either, because that's not good for us. Admitting that we hate someone who did something bad allows us to forgive them and move on with life.
Becaue of my abusive boss, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. How do we love someone who is abusive? Or in the case of the man from Wisconsin who raped and cut up a young female reporter in his salvage yard, how do we love him when he commits crimes so horrible that we cannot even stand the sight of him? To the victim's family, this man is pure evil. They probably hate him and what he did. How could they forgive him, ever?
I believe now that to love someone that does evil or bad things, we should follow a code of "hate the actions, love the person." Yes, I hate the actions of my boss. He lies, is abusive and is petty, controlling and intimidating. I hate what he does to the people around me and to myself. No I don't really hate my boss, but I do hate what he's doing.
So, one way to love my boss is to not let him get away with the actions I hate. We should not let abusive people continue their abusive behaviours. I don't really want to hate my boss either. It's not healthy or a solution to the problems. But I also don't like what he's doing to me or my coworkers. I think I will be able to forgive my boss and already have in a way. I do feel bad that he is oblivious to the pain he is causing his employees. I can love this man and still hate his actions and attitudes.
Posted by carl1236 at November 23, 2005 11:23 PM | Love your Neighbor