The Washington herald., 1915-04-07

! Sohieone we nad Just passed
! someone he hated and refuset
to speak to. In every instance
he would tell something discreditable abou
the person, something that made it impossible fo
him to keep his peace of mind. In most of thos,
instances he had known the people very we'll, ant
as result of their misbehavior DC had cast then
off. The sight of them seemed to arouse in him
a flood OF bitter memories. Sometimes he would
| tell me how much he hated this person or that
| Once | ventured to say to him: Don't you find
| it very uncomfortable to hate many people?'
| He looked at me with surprise and resentment
|"Of course / DON'T" he said. Then he went on
with noble indignation. DO you suppose that
am going to have anything to do with people l
despise? There arc plenty of decent people in the
world and / prefer to know them"
Hating is always distressing. And yet SO many
of us hate bitterly. We often boast of being good
hatcrs. 1t is if were to boast of being good
dipsomaniacs good drug fends, or good dis
turbers of peace. Indeed, hating is so
painful that it may reach point where even the
faters its folly, and for the sake of protecting
themselves take measures either to modify or to
stop their hating. II got into such state of mind
over that thing" said a friend to me the other
day. after telling of unpleasant complication
ner, that found l was making myself sick.
was ready to do my partner personal violence.
So decided to put the whole thing out of mind
1t easier to let myself be done up in that
particular transaction than to go on nursing that
miserable feeling. Besides. l saw that my partner
feeling just about as bitter as l felt myself"
Here, it seemed to me. was particularly interest
ing situation. How did your partner feel after
you called the thing off," My friend smiled
WELL though he'd refused to bulge inch be-
fore, he off his perch and offered to make
compromise. So the whole thing Strengthened it
self out
Shortly after | published little hctiona study
designed to show the workings of hate the
mind and the body a reader said to Il
have a of hate OF my that I'd like to
see what you think Of Then he told me of a
great injustice he had been subjected to-a dis
tressing experience that had broken out into many
irritatons and trials and that promised to
tnuc the torment DO you wonder that | hate
that man." he asked, referring to the of the
trouble. | certainly didn't wonder. Under such
circumstances hating seemed to me the most nat
ural reaction in the world. 1--WE got so now that
| enjoy hating him. he went on. "Thc more
hate him the more | enjoy hating him. AS he
sec. 1t was as if he were taking a strange, dis
tressfu pleasure in proddng at aching tooth
or at sore gums. What he really enjoyed was
giving himself relief from his hating by consciously
expressing it in his thoughts and in his words.
But, of course, know" he said, that hating
doesn't do any good to 1t does me harm. 1t
makes suffer. SO | have to stand two things
through that fellow-thc thing that he did to ME,
and the hating" 1t seemed to me that he was
working his case out pretty we'll. "Of the two
things, which is worse?" l asked. Without a mo-
ments hesitation. he replied: "Oh. the hating"
And yet it was the hating that he could deal with
that he could if he chose end
But there arc people we can't get along with
hateful people perhaps people that hate us for no
reason in the world, people that annoy us or
draw into quarreling. Isn't it better for 10
keep out of the way? Often we find people tax
ing this line of thought. As a rule, it is self
of the way of those we can't get along with. But
when meet them there is only one thing for us
to do.to treat them courteously, to be careful
not to let them see that we are suspicious of them
or in any way unfriendy.
In all our hating there is vast amount of
egotism. If we could forget ourselves, should
instantly forget our hating. We know of people |
who have done others injustice and who arc con-
sequently hated by those people But we don't !
hate them or feel any resentment. 1t
is only when the injury becomes injury that
We subject ourselves to torment For this reason
alone we ought to what small personal thing |
very one has some special hate. So nearly ever
one has special task to meet in life, to overs
come that foe that lives in the consciousness. Tp
each victory here may mean marvellous increase
or III