Hatred seems to beget hatred. Claims of hatred seem to beget claims of hatred. When claims of hatred are tossed back and forth it seems people quickly forget the source of the hatred. Soon the A’s hate the B’s because they are B’s and the B’s hate the A’s because they are A’s – as if that were reason enough. In time the hatred just becomes ingrained, almost reflexive, and gets bogged down in ancillary arguments like “who hated first” or “who hated most.”
Whether we are talking hatred or its younger, less developed sibling – let’s call him/her “Animosity” — someone has to diffuse the situation lest the animosity/hatred escalate. The mental picture that comes to mind is that of two people tossing a “pin pulled” live grenade back and forth while arguing over who pulled the pin. What they fail to see, or even consider, is that what is most needed at that point is that the grenade be tossed aside, not back.
It occurs to me... 