Dear Editor
In his Neighbourly Advice According to Ed column earlier this month, the good Rev. Raymond Maher notes that we should love everyone, even our enemies, because this is what Jesus instructed us to do.
That’s fair enough. After all, what better reason can there be for doing something than knowing it’s what the all-powerful, all-knowing and infinitely-good Creator would have us do?
But, let’s face it. Not everyone is a Christian. And even for Christians, the because-the-Bible-says-so line of reasoning probably doesn’t get as much respect these days as it might have only a few decades ago.
There are, however, other reasons for loving one’s enemies that depend not at all on the Bible.
When we hate our enemies, we focus almost entirely on their destruction or, at least, on not helping them succeed. This cuts us off from the potential allies and friends these people could become. By loving our enemies, we are more likely to do good to them, to treat them with respect, dignity and compassion. In doing so, they may notice and eventually decide to reciprocate, returning our kindness with pleasant words and actions of their own. Friendships can be made, allies won over. This strengthens our own position and enriches our lives.
The other thing that happens when we hate people is we tend to discard everything they say and do, rejecting it out of hand because of the source. That, though, is illogical. Even a fool can sometimes utter a profound truth. By approaching our enemies with love, we also open ourselves up to the idea and feeling that what they do can and probably does have value. This allows us to learn from them and grow as people.
In societies throughout the world, including our own, traditional enemies now live side by side. It is only by opening ourselves up and appreciating those we find difficult to love that relationships between traditional enemies are overcome, one person at a time. Peace grows, not from signatures on treaties or at the point of a gun, by every human heart that reaches out, ever hopeful that we can be more tomorrow than what we are today – kinder, gentler and more loving.
The words of Jesus, taught to a small group of men and women millennia ago, are still as true and relevant to our troubled times now as they were then. Unconditional love is still as important for all of us, man or woman, straight or LGBTQ, Christian or atheist, as it has always been.
It’s comforting to know there are still men like Rev. Maher out there, willing to stand in the gap and share those eternal truths with others in the Battlefords News-Optimist.
Thank you.
James Risdon
Bathurst, New Brunswick
