how does one hate the love of hate?

received an email forward the other day [click here to read a close copy of the forward on truth or fiction dot com], and below is the response sent to all those who received the forward.


after some searching on truthorfiction.com, it seems to me the original letter of this forward actually came from a columnist named Doug Patton. whatever the case may be, i am driven to respond because doug patton and pamela foster or whomever else don't speak for this american. no worries, it's not that bad - "just my silly little point of view."

please note: i've been there, and still struggle with revenge and apathy at times. all i know is if no one makes a move towards peace, there will be no peace. i can find a lifetime of things that piss me off and fight, fight, fight, or i can spend my short existence allowing for a more peaceful experience. so can you! read with an open mind.


so, i don't mind getting forwards like this, and i'll tell you why: if i weren't accepting of other peoples' beliefs and let them express how they feel, then i wouldn't be justified sharing mine. the beauty of a country as free as ours (not true freedom, but a pretty good thing overall) is that we can have conversations to try to come up with the best solutions for problems, we can live next door to each other and disagree on virtually everything and still live in peace, we can make our own choices as to whether we CARE OR NOT about anything in the universe.

I CARE. i care that the fighting never ends. i care because things will never change if it's going to stay like this. this mentality of "vengeance" making us feel better is a facade, a ruse that's going to get us all killed. i care that people are dead in america from this unnecessary hatred and i care that people living on the other side of the world are still dying because it happened here. i care that our way of life is threatened because many americans, even many in the government, feel that destroying anyone who lashes out at us the way we have been known to lash out at so many throughout history is the best way to operate. if you don't agree, that's fine - a lot of people around the world understand it because they've gone through so many more devastating losses than a vast majority of americans in the history of this country. ask a native american for his/her viewpoint on it.

it's understandable that we feel loss, anger, pain, fear, and so on when we are attacked; i certainly do. when people are killed, something's wrong. the tragic play continues. but i will not be ruled by someone else, will not allow anyone to take hold of my emotional responses based on something they've done to me. truth be told, myself included, we bring many things upon ourselves based on the simple fact that WE DON'T CARE what we do to others, but light up at what they do to us. MY RESPONSE IS MY RESPONSIBILITY, and i must face that fact 24/7.

THIS WILL NOT STOP UNTIL WE ARE WISE ENOUGH TO RECOGNIZE THE CYCLE AND END IT.

the point being, we are a very powerful country with probably more amassed power than any other, but we are blinded by our power, wounded by our own fears. i am an american citizen who gets ABSOLUTELY NO SATISFACTION from seeing other people killed. i am an american citizen who is saddened by others' hatred of us and ours of them, and even more saddened by the REASONS that hatred exists. i realize we're living in a very driven world, hungry for power and control; but the drive of this world doesn't stop or even start there. it starts and stops with YOU, an individual human being living with billions of other humans, and countless other living beings in all sorts of forms. do you really want to spend your life either looking over your shoulder or suspiciously out of the corner of your eye constantly, or even worse, walking away from others' pains shouting "I DON'T CARE!"? how can we ever expect anything but hatred from others if we have no respect for them? there are cultural differences in the world, big time. we can't change everyone to be capitalist americans, but I ASSURE YOU, MOST CERTAINLY, WE WILL IMPROVE THE WORLD, NAY, THE UNIVERSE, EVERY TIME WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING FOREIGN TO US AND LEARN, LEARN, LEARN WHAT IT MEANS TO GIVE TO EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE THAT WHICH WE EXPECT IN RETURN.

whether you do or don't agree, i care. the reasons i want the fighting to stop is that it doesn't make anything better about those who have already died. the trick is to keep people from WANTING to kill us - with all our knowledge, money, power, and most importantly, all our people, it's up to us. it's up to you.

thanks for reading.

kevin b schnepp