It isn't hard to understand hatred as a maximum along the scale of dislikes and discontents. Hatred seems most likely to grab us during youth and young adulthood. Hating someone or something can endure into late middle age, of course; and if we aren't careful with our thoughts, if they run ungoverned, they can end up mired in the ditch of the absurd.
Deciding that we have been wronged, whether justified or not, can lead down the path of darkness where hatred smolders with an intensity that eats at us, at our rationality.
When the poisons of
hatred fester, wrath strangles
like the surprise of a garrote.
Talons of hatred
hurl us upon jagged
rocks of irrationality.
Hatred is active stupidity;
mired in its darkness,
hiding the light of reason.
If hatred must find
a corner in our hearts,
may it be icy, and brief.
