LOVE vs. HATE; we decide which wins

   
      Love is not what it has been branded to be in our society. Just like almost everything else we put generalizations and judgments on love and hate that we maybe shouldn't. So what are the definitions of love and hate? What do dictionaries think of them? Well, first of all, both love and hate can be a noun or a verb and can also have many different meanings and connotations for different people or in different situations. We can have love for our family or friends that has nothing to do with "making love". So the root definition that could possibly apply to all aspects of love when related to a person maybe be; "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." Some may say that sounds a tad sexual for your love of your father or uncle and I might say the same thing but passionate affection has very sexual connotations with most people when passion and affection are truly human traits that are nothing but common in the love you have for family or friends. That feeling you have when they are hurting or happy, that's love. But to restrict love to a box of only beings loving beings would be ridiculous and not something that I intend to do. So i suppose "a feeling of warm attachment or deep affection" will have to do, at least for now.
      Love is much simpler than we make it out to be. You may not realize who or what you love right now even when love might be exactly what it is. We too often look past our basic emotions to the point where we think we're all licensed psychologists that need to over analyze every little thing. I am quite guilty of this on occasion and I do my best to let things happen how they will while being the most honest dedicated person I can be towards what/whom I wish. You might be thinking you just said love is simple and yet you’re rambling on about it but simplicity itself is complex if you want to go that far. I could write 1000 words on the color violet if I wanted to and put my mind to it. The fact is that love is more than we think. It is the food for our soul and yes our souls can be overfed with love but that can never harm as much as hate. Just as we need food or plants need sunlight, our souls need and desire love.
       Hate is often another type of desire. One that is extremely insidious and vicious by nature, the desire to hate is not the opposite of the desire to love. However much we see hate as an antonym for love I don't find it good to even bind them together by calling them opposites. Sometimes we are told that hate is not as big as it is. That hate could be to be unwilling or strongly disliking of something or someone. I find it to be nonsensical that you love something and then hate it by reversing your desires. This is why I say love is simple because hate is much deeper than that. People say they love random things and hate random things but to me it's not the same. True hate is not saying you hate coffee or cats. Hate is having such strong feelings about something that no word can describe how much you passionately dislike something besides hate (you could make an argument for abhor). Hate can also, in my opinion, be an action. Taking freedom from a people equals hate, inciting oppressions and injustices equals hate. Yet in my opinion you can be hateful without even knowing it. Because, to me, supporting tyranny equals hate just as being silent to hatred equals hate.
      Truly we decide what we love and what we hate (if we love or hate at all) and how we will use one or the other or both to live our lives. The fact is that both love and hate have had their part in the evolution of mankind. The sad thing is after thousands of years some still love to hate. So love me, hate me, or be indifferent, just don't live your life by anyone else’s judgments and decisions of what they will love and/or hate because that's how we end up hating what we are wanted to hate and loving what we are wanted to love. And that is not real love, although it can end in real hate.

By: Alex Wyatt