Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world in which hate was not a word? was not in existence? could never be imagined? Hate. Where did it come from? Is it o.k. to hate hate? Is it even possible? It is possible to love love.

Donald Knight — journal entry May 7, 1997

Yesterday, I was glancing through my old journals that I have kept since my young adult years and came across the entry from May 7, 1997, where I closed the entry with those pondering thoughts. Our younger selves often have the luxury of much more self reflection than our adult selves.

Little did I know then that 23 years later, we’d find ourselves in a country where division and divide, from the right and left, conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats would run so deep.

I’d answer the younger me with the advice I’ve only learned from 23 years with indeed you can’t hate hate away, only love transforms. Hate only entrenches hate and division. Hate transforms nothing. Hate only burrows you down deeper into their darkness.

Love transforms the world back to Eden, back to the Creator, back to the perfection of Creation in the beginning.