Chains

Recently, I got to thinking about something. Not to say that I'm not normally thinking about something. Heck, it usually takes me at least half an hour to fall asleep every night cause my mind won't calm down and go to sleep. Anyway, I was thinking (and still am) about a single imperfection of the world. Just one. One that trumps all others (and boy are there others). Now I may be wrong, and I already know that some disagree, but the conclusion I arrived at was pretty simple.

There's too much hatred in the world.

Now there are other extremely negative emotions. Dante has seen to it that we are very familiar with them. Lust, Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, Greed, and Envy. But these are base sins, an inherent part of every human being. Everyone, from the most warped psychopath to the most reverent priest, has felt at least one of these slithering beasties wrap a tendril around their beating heart. They are just as much a part of you as Honor, Faith, Compassion, Charity, Passion, Trust, and Love. Hatred, however, exists outside these. He does not have a seat at the central table. He is born like an innocent little scrape, nothing anyone thinks very much of. Time then passes, and the tiny wound slowly festers and becomes infected. More time passes, and eventually even the mightiest resistance will crumble to the disease.

Initial sin, or its more worldly counterpart of crime for the less religiously inclined, will almost always come to be as a result of the involvement of one of the cardinal Sins, but will almost always result in some form of hatred. Just like my English teachers would probably 'hate' me for writing such a wordy sentence. See, Hatred is only brought about by other actions. But what about after that? The hatred is now out in the world, just sitting there, and gets a little lonely. So it strives for more hatred. And more. Before we know it, an eternal chain is choking the world.

The natural reaction to hatred is obvious. Some may say that hate is too strong a word, but we all know the feeling, regardless of depth. But stop for a moment, and think. What would happen if we chose the unnatural reaction? As humans, we're all about doing the unnatural anyway, right? Don't give hateful acts a hateful response. I'm not saying everything should be forgiven, far from that, but we have the strength to bear it in all it's unfairness. Don't think about an eye for an eye or vengeance or any of that silly mishmash. Think about how you felt, and still feel, and think about keeping others from feeling that way. This chain may reach through the ages, adding links to itself by the hour, but it can still be broken, and that's exactly what I intend to do.

Story Time

"Welcome back, class. I hope you all had a wonderful break."

"Thank you, Teacher."

"Yes, well, I'm sure all of you are dying to talk about what you all spent that refreshing reprieve doing and not doing, but before we do anything useful...it's story time!"

"Yay!"

"Now now, calm down. This is the story of a man. A man who, as a boy, had the most wonderful upbringing. You see, his parents had paid attention to their own parents, and still believed in the proper standards that had been set way back in those olden days. It's really a shame that so few families still have such moral discipline...but silly Teacher could lose her job for telling you all such things! Anyway, no one around could claim to be the nice guy that this man was, such did he believe in doing the right thing. His friends, in particular, remembered him for this.

'Hey, can I borrow your homework? Nah, don't worry; Teach'll never catch me! You're always top of the class anyway, man! No sweat.'

'Man, check that girl out! Think I'll ask her out for a few drinks. What? You two've been going out for a couple of weeks now? C'mon man, nice guys like you always get the babes. Just take a dive for me this once, k? I'll make it up to ya, promise!'

'The boss is making his rounds. Please man, I need that promotion. I know Boss's had his eye on you...but I gotta feed my wife and kids, y'know? What...never mentioned the wedding? Slip o' the tongue, buddy. Haha, sorry.'

And so more years passed, in much the same manner. The man, slowly but surely, began to learn from his mistakes, and changes came about in his life. Positive changes, to be sure. Success. Fame. He got it all. At a cost, to be sure, but who has time for such sentiments? This man had it made. And so he lived out the rest of his days, forgetting the chains of his past, and only looking out for whom he cared most.

I hope you all see the moral of this story. The Board has been very clear about getting a point like this across...yes, Jimmy? A question?"

"Yes, Teacher...about the ending of the story..."

"Yes, go on. Don't take too long now. What do you think?"

"Screw that."