Society encourages us to be retaliatory, to treat people the way they treat us, especially if they don’t like us. Despite the perception of its success as a solution, it is still not an effective one, as it only breeds more contempt. Even Dr. King, a man that was met with countless death threats and ten enemies for every ally knew mistreating someone because they’ve wronged you, or in his case, hate you, is a recipe for disaster. It was him that said “hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” In other words, there is no better prescribed medicine for hate than love.

If this is your first time hearing this, then I imagine you must think I’m crazy. And if you continue to read, prepare for your mind to be blown.

Jesus, the Savior of the world, literally came to liberate all people, especially the marginalized like the poor, the sick, the shut-in, as well as women and children, and not only was he called a liar and denied as the Son of God, He was crucified. If anyone had a right, not to mention the power to retaliate, it was Him. And yet, His only response to the denial, hate, and literal murder was salvation and furthermore, love.

Now, I will give you some context, mortal to mortal. Personally, I don’t have it in me to treat people unkindly, even if they don’t like me. It is not a popular attitude, but it is mine, nonetheless. A portion of that comes from me caring about the inherent value of all people. An inherent part of love, romantic or otherwise, is empathy. When someone isn’t kind to you, mistreats you, and doesn’t like you, it’s not a great feeling and if you’re human, it hurts. For some people, the next and natural thing to do is find a way to make that person hurt in the same way that they have. For me, I think about the potential reasons that a person has an issue with me because hurt people hurt people. In my mind, I would never want to make another person feel as bad as I just did.

Think about it, I hurt you, you hurt me, and the cycle continues and as cycles do, it never ends. So, we’re now in a perpetual state of discord and negativity. The high road is certainly not a frequently driven path, but it is a rewarding one. To treat someone as they treat you is to become them. To be kind and to rise above those people is to liberate yourself. It doesn’t mean you go out of your way for people or that you even have to be friends, but it does mean you treat them with the dignity and respect we all have a right to. As it is written throughout the Gospels, love your neighbor as yourself, not as your neighbor loves you.

All “an eye for an eye” can ever do is make the whole world blind.