These days I try hard to like everyone.Well,I guess thats really a lie,but I try to like as many people as I can,because it just takes too much energy to dislike people.When I was in grade school,it seemed that I disliked almost everyone around me at one time or another.some of them I hated constantly.Moncton,my hometown,seemed full of nasty,mean spirited people and I couldn't wait to leave.But in truth,by the end of high school,when I look back on it,nearly everyone was treating nearly everyone else with more civility.I think it was just a time for putting away childish things and I often wonder what it would have been like if I'd stayed.Could I have learned to like my hometown a little bit more?to a degree,thats a question that will likely haunt me forever.It took me a long time,and a lot of distance to learn to like people.Becoming a Christian helped a lot because it forced me to view my neighbours through the eyes of God,who says in his word that he loves them,and commands me to do likewise.And I truly do make the effort,though in truth,there are a lot of people out there who are very difficult to like.Lately I've come to know that there is a difference between a person,in terms of their identity,and the way that they choose to behave.Or,to put it another way,one might behave,or behave otherwise.So I try to deal with unlikeable persons in terms of behaviour.There are things which,quite frankly annoy me,even piss me off.There are some things that I will not tolerate on the grounds of belief or principle.And there are some things which are wrongminded or even evil and I must take a stand against them.But that is entirely different from disliking someone or some group of people,something which I really have no right to do.That is my perspective on disliking people right now,but it took my whole life to get here.So.to that guy who got offended by something I posted on Facebook,something that he viewed on a mutual friends page instead of mine,just before calling me an irrelevant,pathetic old man,you really are not that likeable,but I don't hate you.It's just your behaviour that I find repulsive.I could even like you if you disagreed with me like many reasonable people do.To a certain right wing politician who values ignorance,has never heard of Margaret Atwood,and cannot even properly pronounce the word "library",if you could master the art of educating yourself and losing weight only on the right side of your body so that you would naturally tip to the left,it would make my job of trying to like you so much easier.who knows,I might even like you enough to vote for you.
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