It is exceedingly important to always remember that words are powerful.  We have so many examples of this in history, where the choice of words by powerful people determined the fates of entire peoples all over the world.  And it continues to happen.  Hate speech is perhaps the worst kind of violence because it can spur and spread a physical reaction of hatred in other people.  Hatred breeds hatred as effectively as love breeds love.  All that needs to happen is for the right audience to show up and be manipulated.

The reason I have chosen to write about this, is because the power of love is the antidote to hatred.  And compassion is the most powerful force of love that can heal the brokenness of people. 

We must remember that fear is the impetus of hatred.  I remember the first time I heard that hatred came from fear.  I was young and couldn’t fully understand it.  In my innocence, I could not imagine myself hating anyone because it frightened me.  I didn’t see the connection.

As I grew up I began to see this phenomenon being exhibited in people.  But I still couldn’t fully understand it.  I was one of the most fortunate ones, because I was loved and protected from circumstances that would have exposed me to such behavior.  I found it hard to understand, even as I grew older, because I had never experienced anything close to hatred growing up.    

Today, there is so much fear that hate has a very plentiful source of subjects to exploit by manipulating that fear into hateful action.  And there are people in powerful positions ready to exert their influence.

“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but it is really fear.” – Mahatma Ghandi

Hate is powerful, but without an adequate source of fear it cannot thrive.  Compassion is much more powerful and it has the ability to heal those broken by fear and hate.  That’s why we must always remember that words are powerful and learn the words we need to promote love and caring into our environments and lives.  For then, fear will be more strongly challenged by the powerful words of love.  And that is a most noble quest to pursue.