Hate - A universal magnanimous drive that has driven us to great heights, and horrifying depths.

 

Throughout history, hate has been instrumental in the development of the human civilization. We wouldn't have gunpowder, or any improved instruments of war if it wasn't for two people/nations to hate each other enough/worry about the other's hate to annihilate them. 

Humanity's most influential invention yet, the computer, came out of a race between two nations at war to decipher each other's messages. That's just one among the many inventions that were birthed from this emotion.

But is this more harmful, when compared to its benefits? Does it destroy our unity, replacing it with progress?

This emotion is universal, triggered when any part of your being feels attacked. It could be your culture, your race, your ancestors, your heritage, your family, or just you. When you do feel this, you try to send it back to its origin, the idea that made you feel it whether it be a person, poster, image or even a building. But the actual problem is that is doesn't stop there...

It becomes a personal objective that drives you to ensure that the originator feels the same as well. Everything that reminds you, whether it be a person, race, religion or maybe even a symbol of it gets you back into that objective. We end up generalizing the entire group as stalwarts of that hate, and we convince ourselves that they deserve it. If a person doesn't agree with you, then they're the human embodiment of your hate. And what better way can we release our hate than by harming those that embody it.

Thinking over this, does it really help in any way? 

Hate biases your entire worldview, turning you into a victim who is wronged and suppressed by everything you think is an embodiment of that hate

or into an aggressor, who justifies violent and oppressive actions against said embodiments of hate , irrespective of whether it's based off personal experiences or historical events such as colonization, genocides and ethnic cleansings by empires long gone.

Instead of learning from these mistakes where hate become a religion, we have ended up repeating them in a reversed manner. Descendants of oppressors long gone have to deal with mistakes that they have nothing to deal with, just the fact that they are genetically related. Countries with violent histories are made to constantly remember their historical wrongdoings, when no one from that era still lives.

Such people are now hated, whether it be through labeling or through their ancestry. "They should remember that their fathers wronged us" is the war cry, but what good does this do when it antagonizes everyone who hears this against those undeserving souls. And this cycle keeps going on...

To a bystander, this may appear mindless.

To me, I feel disturbed and lost. As though we have more hate than humanity in our lives and that there is no hope for us. As though we're meant to kill each other over an emotion.

These feelings try to sap me of my happiness, as I end up worrying about the fate of others, their cultures and beliefs, my culture and beliefs.

It's easy to feel bad, and join either of the two groups I've mentioned above but it's hard to rise beyond this to make a change.

This starts small, with the people you meet and how they perceive you. We can't change the world, but we can make a person understand us. That's why we are social beings. And that's where this starts.

What if I used this emotion of hate to fuel my progress and improvement. Drive my progress and understanding, instead of fueling my hate against the originators. Finally exceeding my own expectations and dreams and reaching a stage where I can influence for good?

Sounds like something a "motivational" speaker would say right? I feel the same too.

That's a floater I had, and now I have it saved here. Let's see where this takes me, and how this can age.