Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Isn’t it unfair to find out that in spite of the good intentions and best efforts, someone would accuse you of being sneaky? As you tried to please somebody, things did not happen as planned, you ended up misunderstood, blamed, and despised. These scenarios bring about conflicts, thereby finding us an enemy.
The sad and harsh reality tells us, no human has no enemies. As we live our lives, we the protagonists will be challenged by antagonists to make our life stories box office hits. There will be people who would hate, seek harm, overthrow, or confound us. Somehow life is like an ongoing Olympics, where every game has matched opponent.
People in our lives, maybe either loving or hating, friendly or adverse, constructive or pathetic, as much antitheses come color our lives. We become aware of these contraries to be able to manage our feelings and maintain a balance.
Those who oppose our beliefs turn out to be the enemy. Unknowingly, we create enemies when we blame others. As we disagree on moral, political or religious issues, we yield enemies in the name of freedom of expression.
Jesus unconventionally teaches us, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:43-45). Oh dear, each of us indeed has enemies but we have to care for them.
There are legitimate reasons for anyone to hate and beat enemies. Acts of immorality, selfishness, envy, racism, greed, and injustice are detestable, but these should not be attributed to the person. Humans are induced to become victims of their own acts. By grace, human beings can change positively.
Our enemies hurt us, they practically show who we actually are. When someone hates us, we realize the need to change our negative traits. With their challenges, however, we discover new skills or even enhance our talents. In the final analysis, our enemies give us the chance to become better persons.
By no acceptable reason can someone become an enemy because of his beliefs, inclinations, culture, and economic status, are different from ours. If we see each of us as a spice, contributing to flavor life, like musical notes, we resound together harmonizing humanity, our individual colors bringing out the beauty that meets the eyes, we will learn to coexist and appreciate others.
Loving our enemies becomes easier when we imagine ourselves facing the mirror. As we look at ourselves, let us think of the good qualities of our enemies that we don’t have and try to understand the situation that befell into the quarrel. Let’s find out what we could love and what we hate about our enemy and understand what they might love in us and what makes them hate us. Common interests may provide the way for us and our enemies finally befriending each other.
When winning seems imminent because of the enemy’s possible defeat like when the person would need our help to move on in life, that is the best time to love them. Love in the context of having enemies is to seek ways to defeat the evil systems, not the persons who fell victims entrapped in it. Kindness is the act to love an enemy.
Hate distorts the hater’s personality. Hating is stressful making us irrational to miss to see the beautiful and good. Loving our enemies is the redemptive power that can transform people. Loving our enemies gives us the chance to redeem and transform them. Love builds up because it is creative, hating tear down at it is meant to destroy. [Martin Luther King, Jr.]