Hate vs Love

This is going to take me a while to process.

I went to see Halima's Path today as part of the Remembering Srebenica events co-ordinated by my colleagues Cllrs Adrian Farley and Alex Ross-Shaw.

The film is essentially about a grieving mother trying to find her adopted son who was of mixed heritage.

The film itself was really well done and it's obvious why it's won so many awards.

But, the reality of the hate that exists in our world, the way we think about ourselves and others, the way one group of people persecutes another, the way we let hate, instead of love, prevail, really hit me.

It reminded me of Rwanda and the hate that devastated that nation in 1994.

It reminded me of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

It reminded me of Apartheid in South Africa.

It reminded me of the Holocaust and the persecution by the Nazi's of anyone who they didn't like, disabled, Jews, LGBT, Roma and so on.

It reminded me of Israel and Palestine.

Is it really hate though or is it lack of understanding, lack of friendship between people who have different backgrounds?

It hurts to look at the darkness in the world.

But as Martin Luther King said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

So my prayer is that I want to be part of bringing light and love into more of this world.