The Fight Against

Have we been tasked to fight for love, or fight against hate? For liberation, or against oppression? For justice, or against injustice? Is there even a difference?

The concepts of love, compassion, and empathy have been ingrained in me since I was a young girl. Potentially much to my own mental detriment, I had always felt a deep pang of sorrow anytime I saw a fellow human being suffering, sometimes to the point where I couldn’t function properly as a result of this overwhelming sense of empathy, yet feeling of hopelessness that I couldn’t do anything to release someone of their misery. I very much held the belief that all people, no matter who they are, are like me — longing for purpose, and fulfillment, and love. In that spirit, whatever deep-seated flaws that one may have would be inconsequential, as they are — in the grand scheme of things — the same suffering, soul-searching, misguided human being as I surely am. We were taught early on hackneyed adages of loving all others, not passing judgement, and striving for peace for the purpose of coexistence. I ate up all these ideas, as cliche as they might have been — they were the only thing that made any rational sense to me. It wouldn’t make sense to want to live in a world in which we are not actively seeking to spread love every which way, search for common ground with whom we disagree, and no matter what — always be civil. And in my heart of hearts, this…