An Interesting Thought Experiment

Are you a good lover?

Sorry, I'm not referring to anything sexual here.

It's something I've been thinking about. I guess you would call it LOVER in the spiritual sense.

It's easy to love someone like say, Mother Theresa, isn't it?

But here's the real challenge. Try to love someone you think is hateful... maybe like Osama Bin Laden (or pick your own bad guy).

Now before you get the wrong idea, I'm not saying to love what he thinks or does, or become an Al Qaeda sympathizer and head off to a training camp.

I'm asking you to take a minute, suspend judgement, and try to understand what made him the person he is today. What did he experience in his life? Are you able to "walk a mile in his moccasins"? Would you make the same decisions if you had similar experiences?

And finally, could you love him as a human being, however misguided his ideas and mission?

Can you do it?

Then one final idea to consider.

How is your hate different from his?

**

Think the Unthinkable

We must dare to think "unthinkable" thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world."
– James William Fulbright