6 hours Ago By Patrick T. Reardon
If I believe that Donald Trump is bad for the United States and the rest of the world because he expresses so much hate, should I hate him and all the people who voted for him? If I believe that Trump fosters hate for his own ego and stirs up hate among Americans for his own enjoyment of power and spite without regard to the noxious harm it causes, should I hate him and all of the people who voted for him? If I believe that, in his hate, Trump demonizes many innocent people — such as immigrants, women, transgender people, scientists, judges, Democrats, Jews, environmentalists, Black people, soldiers killed in battle, soldiers held as prisoners of war, Muslims, Haitians, reporters, election workers and so on — should I demonize him and all the people who voted for him? If I believe that Trump takes pride in demeaning those he makes his targets and asserting that they are of no value — indeed, are dangerous because they do not follow him in lockstep — should I, in my pride, demean him and all of those who voted for him? If I believe that Trump engages in hateful name-calling that divides our country simply for the sake of division and the power that such division gives him, should I call him and his followers names? Should I meet hate with hate? If I hate the people who voted for Trump, will I make things better? Or will I be following the lead of Trump and playing into his hands? If I meet his hate with my hate and demean everyone who voted for him and call them names and demonize them — indeed, call them dangerous because they do not think as I do — will I make things better? Does hate make things better? Should I meet hate with humility? Should I set hate aside and humbly accept that the people who voted for Trump are human beings like me and are not inhuman devils and had their reasons for choosing him on the ballot? Should I set hate aside and humbly accept that, because I know very few people who voted for Trump, I don’t know why they voted that way? Should I set hate aside and humbly accept that I need to be quiet and listen when someone who voted for Trump — someone I meet — has something to say about their reasons for thinking he was a better candidate? That I need to be quiet and listen to let them show me what their life is like and how they came to the decision to vote for Trump? That, instead of demonizing them, I need to be quiet and listen to them as human beings who want to live a good life and want, like all of us, to lighten their burdens? Should I meet hate with humility? Patrick T. Reardon is a poet and the author of six poetry collections including “Salt of the Earth: Doubts and Faith and Darkness on the Face of the Deep.” He was a Chicago Tribune reporter for 32 years.
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