Our journeys through life is always made with people. People who would help us in our lows, people who would stretch forth a hand to pick us up, dirt us off and help us make a new beginning. People who would look us deep in the eye and urge us on to face our fears. We can't do without people however hard we try.
It hasn't always been bed of roses when it comes to dealing with people. Some wouldn't like you for various reasons. Some would not like you because your skin is fairer than theirs or darker than what they've always wanted for themselves. Some would not like you because you talk to slow and others because you talk too fast. It happens everyday in our lives that a friend would turn against you not particularly because of anything but because you shine where they go dim or because people applaud you and leave them in obscurity. We usually refer to these people as ENEMIES. By our judgement, they hate us and wish us nothing but death. They curse us and would laugh only when we are down on our knees.
The question then arise; what do we do to these people, who don't like us and who curse us everyday and wish our death? Should we kill them first before they reach the towers of our hearts with their daggers or we let them thrive so someday the sands under their feet would be washed off by the ocean's waves?
I believe these people should be killed with the light of love that they lack. We should open our arms to them where they closed it. When the time comes that we have the advantage to pay them in their own coin, we should choose another option. An option that seems to suggest that "though they hate us, we are not also going to hate them back, because We're not built for hatred." In so doing, we pulled them into a kind of light that is more refreshing and redeeming than hatred.
History has it that before Abraham Lincoln was made the President of the United States, there was this man who never liked him. During Lincoln's time as a lawyer, this man referred to him as an ape. When Abraham Lincoln was running for president, this man wrote a lot of insulting articles against Lincoln's person. He tried within his means to run the the presidential ambition of Lincoln down by degrading the competence of Abraham Lincoln. Then Lincoln won the election. When the time came for Lincoln to appoint someone to become the Secretary of War and part of his cabinet, Abraham Lincoln appointed Edwin M. Stanton. This is the man who has tried running down the ambition of Lincoln. Stanton is the man who at a point in time told Americans "You don't want a tall lanky ignorant man like Lincoln to be the President of the United States." But when the advisors of Lincoln questioned his choice of the man he said "I've read all the derogatory statement he's made about me, I've heard him myself. But after looking across the country, I find that he's the best man for the job."
Lincoln was assassinated few years into his presidency and on his dying bed, guess who was there; Stanton. Edwin Stanton stood by Lincoln until his last breath, and when Lincoln died, the most glowing tribute to his character was written by Stanton. When Lincoln gave up his last breath Stanton stood up and said "now he belongs to the ages." Lincoln killed his enemy before he died. The devil in Stanton that made him hate Lincoln that much was executed the very day Lincoln stretch out his arms to call him into his cabinet. Love was planted in the heart of the enemy and then on Lincoln became a love object in the eye of Stanton. This is the right way to kill the enemy.
When we return hatred for hatred, we become the very losers in this transaction. Hatred clouds our very common sense and direction. Bitterness that happens to be the product of hatred erodes the serenity in our hearts and cause us to be restless in our conspiracies against whom we hate. In our very best, there's still an element of evil within us and in our very worse, there's an element of God within us. No man is totally evil to the extent that he cannot love. For some of us, love is totally buried beneath the rubbles of the destructions of our souls, hence we need a saving hand, that can dig deep into the bottomless pit of our hearts to discover the treasures of the amazing grace buried therein. It's only when that is done, that we can open ourselves to love again.
I believe someday when we are dead and gone, the question isn't going to be how many we were able to love but rather, how many we were able to lead into the highways of everlasting love. Loving an enemy, loving the curser of your grace, loving the one who despite you isn't an easy task. It is only when we've been able to discover the liberating powers of love that loving your enemies becomes easy. And to be able to discover the liberating powers of love, you might have been someone who has experienced the distorted rhythms from the shackles of hatred. That way, when you return to the ways of love, you would never harbour the desires of returning to the slavery camp of hatred.
No comments:
Post a Comment