Brutality

Why is that we are all so brutal to each other? In a small group I attend we've been talking about how we tend to enjoy being right more than loving. While this is certainly not universally true in every situation, it seems to be true far too much of the time. I know that I've been guilty of being right at the cost of being loving. 

For some reason when we feel maligned or our friends are maligned, we immediately feel the need to lash out at the person (or persons) wronging us. Oftentimes this is a brutal attack on the very core of a person's being, a decidedly non-loving course of action. How can we respond constructively in the face of extreme adversity? We could get angry, I know I have and I've no doubt I will again. We could withdraw into ourselves, while we aren't being violent to other people, we are depriving the people who love of us of our presence and love. 

I think that the answer, as unsatisfying and painful as it is, is to love those who denigrate us. This means that we are going to get hurt, it is likely that the people we are trying so desperately to love are going to cause us more pain. This means that we aren't going to get the satisfaction we so often get by returning the hurt. This means that we are going to need to turn somewhere else, to God to find peace. This means that we are going to are going to respond in the loving way that we have been called to. We aren't going to be perfect, ever. We are going to get angry. We are going to act in unloving ways, because no matter how hard we try we can't love universally. But we try, we lean on God to help us love as God loves, and when it works it is a beautiful thing.