Preference Because of Hate

Preference Because of Hate

I do not like him because he is black

“I do not like him because he is black.”

“I do not like her because she has such a strong accent.”

“I do not like him because his parents are from the South.”

“The boy at school seems polite. However, you should not play with him, because he and his family live in the slums.”

“I do not like her because she always gets an A in every class.”

“I do not like her because she always works very hard, stays late at the office every night, and then gets promotions. That makes me look bad to my boss.”

We may prefer to do something with someone or make friends based on personality and appearance. Sometimes we dislike some people without knowing them. They may have never done us any harm. We may be jealous of others who are more talented than ourselves. We might want to make those people look bad. We may treat those people badly.

And that is why forgiveness gives us peace and freedom of mind.

Perhaps we discriminate against those of a different race, religion, nationality, language, or culture. Discrimination often causes us to treat others in our society unfairly.

Discrimination is one form of preference or bias in our society. We may hate someone because their ancestors treated ours badly. We might treat others unfairly because they treated us badly. Many people who are treated unfairly hate those who treat them so. This may be part of a person’s self defense mechanism to let them know that they should do something about it. However, when we take revenge, or get even, it does not make us feel better. Before we can persecute someone through our vengefulness, we must first have allowed hate to corrupt our minds. That is why deep down it does not make us feel better to take revenge. And that is why forgiveness gives us peac e and freedom of mind.