We deal with wealthy people trying to take advantage of us; like the case to take the property of the CDCA, which costs money for lawyers, time, and energy that can be more productively and more wisely spent trying to work to ease the burden of poverty and even trying to end poverty for some…
We deal with people trying to get blood out of a turnip because their own turnip is dry as a desert, and we are paying more money for lawyers, more time and more energy…
And we deal with people who just “don’t get it”…sometimes we call it stupidity, but it is worse than that…it is deliberately putting blinders on one’s self so that one’s own tunnel vision becomes reality.
In this year - young as it is - my frustration has been at an all-time high. My response has been to either suppress the building rage, or do little doggie snaps at people, or do nothing at all. I am a fairly self-aware person, but it took me awhile to realize my feeling for certain people has been hate…pure and simple. I realized one afternoon with a slap-me-in-the-face clarity that what I felt was hate.
I have not felt hate much in my life…really. Anger, yes. Hate, not so much. But when I do feel hate…it comes on me with a vengeance…it burns inside of me and eats at me.
While writing the presentation that Sarah is now using to talk about our work, I needed some inspiration. I had only felt negative about everything and the deadline was coming down to the wire. I decided I was going to Google some quotes to see if I could get more positive…I was THAT desperate! And there it was, amidst all the quotes:
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hate is a heavy, heavy burden to lug around. It paralyzes. It weighs one down. It is an acid that slowly eats away all the goodness in the world.
In that moment I realized that hate is too heavy for me…I can’t carry it any longer… I, too, had best stick with love.Love is way easier…way lighter…way better…
I sat down and wrote the presentation. -- Kathleen
