The Heavy Price of Hate: Why We Must Choose Love Over Vengeance
By Kateb Nuri-Alim Shunnar
So what I'm about to say may sound insane, even unreal, especially in today’s world. As a child, I thought it was a joke when I first heard it. Even now it’s difficult to believe. It’s an idea so foreign to human instinct that most people reject it as a possibility. And honestly, I get it. I really do.
Love your enemies? Bless those who curse you? Help those who wrong you? Pray for the persecutor?
Just reading that makes my stomach ache, especially when I consider a few of the people I’ve come across. I know what you’re thinking "No way. I can’t let someone walk over me. If they come for me, I have to match that energy." I hear you. I understand the argument. Trust me, I hear you. I know how it feels to want to defend yourself, to strike back, to make them suffer as you did. But travel with me for a moment, have that anger in the backseat, and let’s come down another road.
And listen, picking love over hate is not a weakness. It’s strength. It’s so strong that darkness cannot dig in and seize a place and make a home in your soul. Hate isn’t an emotion, it’s a toxin, a slow-moving poison that eats away at your peace, your joy, your very soul. It burrows in your head, bends your thoughts, and before long you’re in its thrall. It also changes your body's stress, anxiety, high blood pressure, and even a compromised immune system.
Hate doesn’t remain static; it grows. It accumulates. It gnaws at you from the inside out. And for what? Over a person who doesn’t even have that right over you? Think about it for a second: if they have hurt you that bad. Do you really want them still controlling your mind, your energy, and your spirit? That’s because that’s exactly what hate does. It chains you to them. And that chain only gets harder to hold the longer you keep it.
Now, I’m not saying you need to like everyone. You don’t need to pretend betrayal isn’t painful or disrespect doesn’t sting. It’s OK to walk away, to set boundaries, to guard your own peace. But there’s a big difference between kicking someone out of your life and welcoming them into your heart through hate. When you begin to carry that bitterness, you’re giving them free rent in your soul. You’re letting them win. Nobody else obody is worth misaligning you with the Creator.
And let’s be honest his love I’m speaking of? It’s not one of those sugar-coated, phony, let’s-hold-hands-and-sing types of love. It’s not about denial or ignoring reality. It’s Agape the kind of love that comes from above. AA fearless love A love that reminds you: I refuse to let you change the good in me. It’s the same love that gives us the sun and the rain on both the evil and the just. The same love that spins the earth, even when we stuff it with all our greed and cruelty.
Do you see it? On our worst days, the Creator still feeds. The rivers go on flowing, the birds go on singing, the trees go on stretching toward the sky. That’s grace. That’s mercy. That’s the purest form of love.
And here’s the deal loving your enemies, blessing those who curse you, is not really about them. It’s about you. It’s about purifying your spirit, lightening your energy, and unburdening your heart. Because as the saying goes, when you hang on to resentment, you’re the one paying for it. You’re the one stuck with it.
Of course, forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting. That doesn’t mean glossing over what they did. It means not being held hostage by it. Forgiving is how you take your peace back from hate. It’s how you escape the shackles. It’s how you liberate yourself.
Revenge is easy. Hate is effortless. But choosing love? Channeling the anger rather than feeding it? That’s power. That’s divine. It’s a power that makes your enemies tremble. A power that takes you above the natural, petty world. A power to make you float weightless, unencumbered.
And isn’t that really what we all want? To be free? It feels stormy inside us, but instead of being able to bring calmness to this life?
So today, right now I dare you. Let go. Drop that grudge you’ve been hauling around. Let go of the resentments suffocating your soul. Release the need for revenge. As soon as you do, you reclaim your soul. You open up space for joy, space for peace, and space for blessings that wish to come into your life.
Hearts weren’t made for hate. We don’t have to live like that anymore.
Choose love.
Choose peace.
Choose to be free.
Author’s Note on the Image
This image is a visual representation of the profound struggle between love and hate a cosmic battle that unfolds not just in our world but within the depths of our own souls. I wanted something futuristic, something beyond the constraints of the physical because the choice between love and hate transcends time, space, and even logic.
The swirling, abstract elements symbolize the turbulence of emotion, the chaos that hate creates,, and the harmony that love restores. You’ll notice the interplay of dark and light forms, a stark contrast that represents the tension between vengeance and mercy. The radiant core at the center signifies the divine love that persists despite the surrounding storms of resentment and bitterness. It’s an ever-growing presence, much like the Creator’s grace, always shining, always offering warmth, even in the coldest voids of our existence.
The space-age aesthetic is intentional love is often seen as an outdated, impractical concept in a world that thrives on retribution and power struggles. But in reality, love is the most advanced force in the universe. It is the energy that fuels creation, that sustains life, that binds the cosmos together. This futuristic vision reminds us that choosing love is not a step backward but a leap forward a transcendence beyond primitive emotions into something higher, something divine.
Look closely, and you’ll see that hate appears jagged, broken, and chaotic, while love flows in smooth, interconnected patterns. This is no coincidence. Hate fragments us; it scatters our peace and disrupts our balance. Love, on the other hand, brings unity it aligns us with the Creator, with one another, and with the vast, boundless universe that we are a part of.
This image is not just an artistic piece it’s a mirror. It asks you: What do you choose? Do you remain entangled in the darkness of resentment, or do you let go, step into the light, and allow love to elevate you? The choice is yours.
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