My odyssey from hate began, when I really understood and accepted, that animals were going to act according to their inherent nature. In other words, a sleeping dog is likely to bite someone bothering it, because that is the nature of sleeping dogs. Even the friendliest dog may bite its’ beloved master when disturbed while sleeping. This is just pure instinct for dogs. A spider will bite, a bee will sting, whenever the conditions exist for them to instinctually do so.

Therefore, it followed that to hate animals for what they did out of instinct, was illogical. By understanding that animals act out of instinct and by knowing what those instincts were, I came to respect animals more. And I quit hating the way animals sometimes acted.

This led me to understand that plants and other inanimate objects were the same way. They behaved according to their innate characteristics. For instance, an atom bomb, when the conditions are right they explode. That’s just the way it is. As I learned to accept the reality of the nature of inanimate objects, I learned not to hate them.

I didn’t see humans in the same way though. People were still on my list of justifiable hatred. After all, didn’t people have the intelligence and training to behave in a reasonable manner? Didn’t society teach us what was right and wrong? Like most people, I used to hate all sorts of things and people. Especially, I hated people. People can be uncaring, rude, and meaner than any other animal there ever was. And I hated myself, for not being able to live up to my own expectations. Yep! I tore my gut apart just hating everybody and everything about humans.

Then it occurred to me that hatred was stupid. I didn’t want to be stupid. Being stupid was one of the things that I hated about myself. Now I ain’t no psychologist dude. But, I have learned a thing or two in my life. Learning that hatred is stupid is one of them. When I was feeling hatred for something, my blood pressure went up, my stomach got upset, and my thinking went bonkers. My friends couldn’t stand being around me. Girl friends got scarred and quit seeing me. All of which gave me reasons to hate even more. Yet, I was a considered a typical person. A little high strung, but typical all the same. Nobody ever told me to quit hating. They told me to watch my temper, but they never said anything about the hatred that caused me to have a temper. I suppose that was why it took me so long to figure out that hatred was ruining my life. See, people used to point out that I did dumb things when I was obviously angry, but no one pointed out it was because of the hatred, that I became angry easily.