When We Stop Hate, We Begin to Heal

Overcoming Hatred With Radical Compassion

Image created and edited in Canva Pro by Alejandro Betancourt.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” — Nelson Mandela

In our turbulent world, remaining true to our humanity can feel like trying to hold on to sand. The seemingly easier path is to harden our hearts, turn away from suffering, and retreat into indifference. I’ve been guilty of that myself more times than I can count.

For too long, I’ve allowed hatred to harden my heart. Dehumanizing rhetoric infected my mind; cycles of violence tainted my spirit. I told myself some lives mattered less than others and that indifference protected me- or so I thought.

But this thinking only nurtured oppression. And it starved my…