Monday, April 6, 2020

Dislike Hate



Pedro’s son came home from school and angrily declared. ‘I hate my Maths teacher!’ In the ensuing discussion, the boy gave various reasons for his statement. After listening patiently, Pedro commented, ‘I understand that you do not like your teacher. But surely, it does not mean you hate him!’

Hate is a strong emotion and a consuming one at that. It seizes and engulfs your thoughts literally and you find difficult to clear your mind of it. It interferes with your sense of fairness. Eventually hate drives you to do things you never imagined you would.

To dislike is less personal. It can be for any number of reasons, but it does not consume you. It is more like a preference or matter of choice that one makes and moves on. Just because you dislike bitter gourd, it does not consume your every thought.

Dislike may be discomfort, distaste, disgust, aversion, disapproval. It is often a very temporary thing. For instance, my aversion to bitter gourd gets reduced when I am told by my Doctor that its consumption is beneficial for my medical condition.

Dislike is survivable. Hate is unbearable. Dislike results in annoyance, frustration or tediousness. Hate leads to anger, despair or rage. Both can be caused by the same provocation from someone else but received by a person who may or may not be in a situation of control.

We must learn to cope with dislike without losing out to hate. Hate pushes us into a corner where we can get stuck. We must choose to be open minded and look at all sides of the situation. That will lead us to dislike Hate!

The reasons to dislike, surely we can cope
Hate engulfs and leaves no scope for hope!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

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