We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
       –Martin Luther King, Jr.

Whenever I read this quote, my mind can’t help but think of the TV show Scandal. I’m sure you are all aware, but there are no heroes or villains. Everyone was both good and bad. They all made wrong choices while trying to maintain semblance of themselves.

We were able to see the characters struggle with complex situations and while the drama unfolded before our eyes, sometimes we question–“What would I do?”

No matter the choices they made during the show, the reoccurring theme was–love. Each person did what they did because of someone or something that they love. The person who they hurt couldn’t stay mad at them for long because they were in love and they were well aware that the love of their life was flawed.  They cannot help but love them regardless.

The same can be said of our love affair with our country. Yes, we know there is a dark side to our history that we have yet to come to terms about, but for those who the history have hurt, there is still love and most of all hope.

Hope that one day the place they love will look upon them and seek forgiveness. Hope that tomorrow will be better than today. Hope that change will come soon for the next generation.  Hope that we will continue to move in the positive direction.

chosing-love-over-hate

Because for all its flaws and all it’s mistakes, our country is loved deeply. The people who make up this country is loved deeply.

And those who may still be stuck in the “good ol’ days”, regardless–they are loved.

If you cannot love a person for all their faults, it’s hard to say you love them at all.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.–Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hate–at least to me, is an easy emotion. It runs hot it burns strong.

But one thing about hate, is that it takes up so much energy to remain angry. It takes up so much of who we are that we can easily lose ourselves in the emotion.

Other times, we are caught in our own world and our own concerns that we fail to see how our views or opinions on how things ought to be, affects other people.  When we are wrapped in our own worlds, we are blind to see the pain of others.

This of course works both ways.

But the beauty of all of this–the beauty of being naturally flawed–is that we all love where we live and we all want a better future for our children’s children.

So, for sake of love, let us hope that we are never comfortable with the status quo.  Let us hope that we will always move forward, with love and not malice, towards a better future.

In all that we do, let us hope to choose love over hate.

{This post has been part of my Black History Series}

Google+