People often fear what they do not know nor understand.
And what they fear,
because they cannot handle it,
they usually end up hating.
Ignorance and uncertainty breed fear and insecurity.
Fear and insecurity give rise to hatred.
I used to fear the darkness when I was a child.
I hated dark places.
I even experienced a certain discomfort with dark people.
I eventually learned how to handle the darkness.
There is usually nothing out there.
And whatever may be out there,
I was sure I could handle or deal with.
Eventually, I even came to appreciate and love the darkness.
It was in the dark that I came to truly appreciate the light.
The darkness, when it envelopes me, fills me with emptiness:
nothing to see, nothing to hold except what was deep inside me.
It was in that dark emptiness that I came to learn about
and experience what fullness.
I also slowly learned that the external color of people
cannot tell nor teach me what is deep inside them.
As I went through life, I learned that it is not what is on the outside
that makes or defines a person.
There have been many people in my life
whom I have loved for the beauty and love and goodness
that come and radiate outward from deep within them.
Dark complexions glow when there is love within a person.
A physical imperfection becomes an expression of beauty
when there is strength and courage within a person.
The Little Prince taught me
that one sees rightly only with the heart
that what is essential is invisible to the eyes.
And so it is in my spiritual questing.
It is in the darkness that I discover the light of my Creator.
It is in the emptiness that I discover the fullness of life He promised me.
It is in being poor that I discover the richness of His Word.
It is in being hated that I discover my total dependence on Him.
Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.”
John 15:18-21