Recently I had an interaction with someone on here who disagrees with my politics. Which, I don’t care about. It’s not like I am the ruler of the world, that’s what cats are for. And yeah, mine has me wrapped around her little paw.
Anyway, because I disagreed with her and had the temerity to actually find data (gathered by the government no less and made publicly available) that refuted her argument with cold hard facts, she responded with anger, hatred and assumptions.
She assumed I voted for Trump. I didn’t. She assumed I’m a right wing type. I’m not.
However, I do believe in facts. That is how I make decisions.
Apparently this was a novel idea to the person who responded with a diatribe about awful people. Which she did in an irrational way that wasn’t cohesive.
While I feel bad that she got triggered — what did she expect?
We are all individuals. That means we may disagree even with our best friend, our partner, or people who share the same affiliations.
Unless we learn to take it in stride when people disagree with us — we are going to find ourselves in a world of emotional pain. If we insist that everyone who is within our social circle agrees with us 100%, we will find ourselves increasingly isolated.
Hatred also hurts your health.
While hate can be directed at anything, it is most destructive when you focus your hatred on another person.
So what can you do if you are consumed with hatred?
A Native American proverb gives us an answer. A grandfather tells his grandson that he has two wolves inside him that struggle against each other. The first wolf if one of peace, kindness, and love. The other is one of fear, greed, and hatred.
“Which wolf wins?” asks the child.
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This post was previously published on Shefali O’Hara’s blog.
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