By Bill Hughes
10 “Non-Religious” Things To Teach Your Youth

7- Teach Them Not To Hate

Growing up in Orlando, as a teen, my best friend was Jewish. We did everything together. It never occurred to me to hate him because of his faith. It also never occurred to me to hate people of a different race, different culture, or even those who cut in front of me while I was driving.
I know where I learned not to hate, from my grandmother. My grandmother actually grew up just after the Civil War on a plantation in Alabama. Her own father had been a slave owner. She was still living in Alabama when the civil rights movement was in full swing. I distinctly remember her sitting 9 year old me down and talking to me about all people being equal, loving all people, and not having hate towards anyone. This was so different from what I had heard other adults say, and what I had seen, in the segregated South. As my grandmother was the wisest person I knew, I began to follow her example.
Today we live in a world where hate is on the rise. Personally, I am shocked by the hate for Jews even in America. You’d think we were living in Germany 100 years ago. But, it is not just hate for Jews, there is hate for all sorts of people. Unless we, as a country, stop the hate it will tear our country apart. We may not be able to do a lot about the hate we see in New York. We may not even know why there is so much hate. But, we can sure teach our kids not to hate. How then do we teach a young person not to hate?
To begin with, evaluate your own life. Do you have hate towards people, any people? One reason I learned from my grandmother not to hate was because even as a young kid I could see how she treated everyone with kindness and respect. Though all of us have the capacity to hate (due to our sinful nature) I believe most people demonstrating hate learned to hate either from a parent, a teacher, or some other older person. If you have hate in your heart you will need to ask God to forgive you and remove your hate.
Secondly, talk with your kids about the hate we currently see in the world. They need to know how you feel about the anti-semitic movement which is gaining steam in our country. Explain to them why we should not hate anyone.
Third, expose your children, as they grow up, to many different races and cultures. With our own children, rather than guarding them from people who looked different from us, we engaged them with people who looked different. We would often have a whole room of kids from other races out our house watching movies with our kids. By being around different races our own children learned to see other races as just like them. And, years later, I can say it stuck.
Finally, if you ever notice your kids doing hateful things to other people correct them with serious discipline. It was a long time ago (1962), so discipline has changed. But, before my grandmother ever talked to me about not hating people, she caught me shooting a sling shot at a black man. It was not a hate thing or a race thing, it was just a mischievous kid thing. Never mind how “innocent” I was, the result was probably the most painful spanking I ever received. Previously to that, I thought grandmothers were not allowed to spank grand kids. Boy, was I sorely wrong.
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Matt. 5:44
He who has ears to hear let him hear.