On hate.........

I am writing this with a Campari in my hand. Just remember that!

There is a lot I don't get. Some of it I don't get because I just am not very smart. Some of it I don't get because I don't want to spend the time trying to understand. Some of it I don't get because it simply is idiotic. I don't mean to be offensive, but some stuff is just idiotic.

For example, guys walking around with their pants sagging is idiotic. That went out of style in the 90s, I thought. Or, guys walking around dropping the F bomb around elementary school kids. That has always been idiotic. I don't get why people do these things because they are so idiotic that trying to understand them is a waste of energy.

You know what else is idiotic - hatred for a group of people. Let me give you an example. "I hate tall people because they picked on me when I was younger." This is idiotic. Just because a couple of tall people made fun of me when I was younger, doesn't mean all tall people are jackasses. Now, some of them may be. A lot of them may be. But I am sure there are some tall people who are nice. When I meet them, I will let you know. (I kid. I have a lot of tall friends. Tall, of course, being defined as taller than me, which isn't that hard since I am 5'5 - on a good day!)

Now, my example is extreme and idiotic. I get it. It was designed to make a point.

You know what I hear a lot of lately - I hate blank. One of the popular ones now is "I hate cops." I don't know why people hate cops, but they seem to hate cops a lot lately. Yes, some cops have done dumb things. You know what? Lots of people do dumb things. If you are reading this and have never done a dumb thing, raise your hand? Yeah, I thought so.

Of course, there is also the old stand-bys. "I hate ..." fill in any racial group of your choice. White people hate black people, black people hate white people, Hispanics hate both, and everyone hates Asians. Right? We have all heard this. Why? Because some douche in one of these groups does something and, instead of blaming the person, we blame the group. It wasn't Billy Smith that robbed me, it was "those white people" who did it. Dumb, of course, to the educated person - maybe. But it happens every single day.

We can also blame religions. We are not fighting a war against terrorism, we are fighting a war against Islam or Muslims or ............just a crazy idea, we are fighting a war against scary people who may be religious, but probably aren't. Of course, the Nazi's hated the Jews, and now Palenstinians hate Jews because, clearly, every Jewish person is responsible for what happens in Israel. Of course, that would mean every European was responsible for apartheid in South Africa until it ended.

I get hate. There are people I hate. It may be 4 people. It may be 5 people. But, it is specific people. I don't hate groups of people. I hate certain people. I hate people who have done mean, horrible things that cannot be forgiven. I don't hate groups. If everyone could try, just a little bit harder, than the world would be a better place. Maybe not much better, but a little better.