Last night, I watched two wildly different shows and both of them touched on hate. It wasn’t the purpose of either show—heck, one of the shows was about food—but they seriously weighed in on why this isn’t the way. Hate is never the way.

I had a teacher in 5th grade who was obsessed with word choices. She wouldn’t allow us to say, “hate.” If you thought you hated lima beans, which I do, she immediately corrected me and artfully crafted my thought differently. She said, “You don’t like the flavor, or maybe even the texture, of lima beans. You may even have a strong distaste or disgust for them.” I had to agree. She warned us how big a word like “hate” is and to try to never use it, especially about people, which I have shared with my children.

While I was at the John C. Maxwell event, John talked a lot about the up-coming election and he said this powerful statement: “It doesn’t matter who you vote for, it matters how you behave.” Ahh! Yes. Today we can think about the word hate and how we use it. If Mrs. Connolly in Parkview’s 5th grade elementary school did not allow me to use the word hate for lima beans, then I am certain I can’t use it for people. Maybe everything we need to know was not learned in kindergarten—but it was certainly learned by 5th grade. Let’s be our very best self!

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!

Beth