Love, not Hate

Everyone judges.  Everyone looks at other people sometimes and feels like they are doing something wrong: sinning for lack of a better word.  Today, I read a blog post by Single Dad Laughing (SDL) called I'm Christian, Unless You're Gay.  This post spoke to me about LOVE.  I, along with almost every one else in the world, has a habit of judging others as SDL speaks about in his post.  (I'll love you unless...) 

I also, although I believe in God, have always shied away from the church to a certain extent, because of the hatred that stems from people's so-called Christian beliefs.  Looking at others with disdain, but not taking care of aspects of their own lives. (And certainly, this is a generalization because I know some great Christians too)

I know what it is like to be different.  As a little kid, I had to struggle with hair loss.  I was bullied, pushed down on the asphalt walkway at my elementary school by a little boy named Rondre who didn't understand that some people are different.  I was beat up.  Kids talked about me behind my back.  Even some adults didn't have the guts to ask me about my hair loss, instead making assumptions and spreading them. Being different should not bring fear into people's hearts. Don't fear differences, embrace them. Seek knowledge first, and don't judge someone for their differences.  In the end, them being different has absolutely NO impact on you.  It's their life, not yours.  Having alopecia areata made me more aware and more accepting of people who are different.

Our society has become more judgemental, filled with more hatred, and less understanding of differences.  Hate is on our televisions, sometimes disguised as Christianity or patriotism or any number of ideologies.  If humans have a reason to hate, then they will.  We'll fight a war to stop hate, and the whole time we'll HATE the people we're fighting and we'll become terrorists AGAINST them spreading more fear and hate, targeting whole populations for the bad of a few.       

A few years back, a man named Martin Luther King fought for Civil Rights in the United States.  I've been to the church where he used to preach.  Martin Luther King used his religious beliefs for good, to help free a people who had been targeted by hatred for hundreds of years.  Now instead of African Americans, gays are being targeted (or fill in the blank: anyone who is different from you, any minority).  Isn't it time we started accepting people, instead of finding ways NOT to accept them?