Rethink Hate

Francine Weagle

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Coffee House Writers

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2 min read

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Jul 17, 2017

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We the people, so full of hate
our own world we execrate.

For our woes, other people we blame.
Never looking inward to our own shame.

Do we even know our own neighbor?
What’s their favorite ice cream flavor?

On the street did you nod and say, “Hi,”
or did look away as you passed them by?

Still taken aback by your race woo hoos.
Have you tried to see the world from others’ shoes?

Stretch out your hand and like dynamite
talk to a stranger and see your world ignite.

Look in their eyes and see who they are.
Your mind will expand, who knows how far.

Did something they say make you smile?
Sit down and converse for a long while.

Ask deep questions. Don’t be afraid.
Do you really think they sleep in a bed they made?

Or did birth in a socioeconomic racist wasteland
have something to do with their shitty hand?

Spend an hour or a day conversing, sharing honest emotion.
To your contempt do you still have earnest devotion?

As days go by you’ve made a new friend.
Your disdain for their view of the world comes to an end.

Then you look inside and judge yourself.
Take some preconceived notions off your mind’s shelf

and replace them with understanding and love.