It’s the kind of leadership I respond to and think is strong and courageous. I don’t see it in too many people anymore. But Martin Luther King Jnr. had it in spades.
His quote continues to rattle around my head.
“Hate begets hate…”
From hate, more hate is birthed. It grows and overwhelms every person it touches.
“…violence begets violence…”
From violence, more violence is birthed. It grows and overwhelms every person it touches.
Hate filled violence is a scourge on our world. We think it’s strength. We think it’s righteous. We think hurting someone who hurt us is the way it is supposed to be. A justified action. But it only creates more hatred and violence at the ones who have been affected by it that will bubble up and take down whomever they think is responsible for their hurt.
We can track wars back to small acts that ‘required’ responses which then, in turn, required responses and grew into millions fighting and dying for something someone else started.
Somewhere, someone has to put a stop to it. To look past the wrong that has been done to them, and to express grace and forgiveness, and not retaliate with a ‘justifiable’ response. Someone has to say ‘enough’.
I can think of one man that did that. Wrongly accused and sentenced to death. Innocent and yet still violently murdered. But even as it happened he urged love and forgiveness for those who committed the violence.
“Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing”. Jesus.
They didn’t know that violence wouldn’t provide them the peace they are after. Hatred wouldn’t solve the inner turmoil and hurt they were feeling. Only love can do that.
“We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love”.
What does love look like in the face of hate?
Mostly, it’s a refusal to treat others the way you have been treated. But more than not treating someone badly, it is a proactive treating others how you would like to be treated.
If you want to be loved, then love.
It you want to not be on the end of a violent act, don’t act violently towards others.
If you want to be the recipient of kindness, then be kind.
If you want to be the recipient of generosity, then be generous.
Or, to appease my desire to not sound too self-centred:
If you want your family to be loved by others, then love.
If you want your family to not be on the end of violent acts, then don’t act violently towards others.
If you want your family to be the recipients of kindness, then be kind.
If you want your family to be the recipients of generosity, then be generous.
Sure, there is never a guarantee that you what you put out into the world will come back directly to you or your family, but it is much better to err on the side of love, non-violence, kindness and generosity.
If I ever get accused of being too much of something, I hope that it’s because I was too much of those things.
I also note that I use the word ‘hate’ too often. It is not lost on me that, even whilst sharing thoughts on generosity, I still manage to add to the hate…I’m working on that.
The Generosity Guy 