So Much Hatred

Dave Fjeld Writer

I’ve written at least a half-dozen columns since the start of the pandemic in Minnesota, over 10 months ago, that never saw the printed page.
It’s diatribes that I’m not necessarily proud of, but when you’re life’s work is writing, sometimes the best way to get out feelings that you don’t want anyone to hear or see is by writing them down – in a file all your own. That they never find their way into the newspaper, much less social media, doesn’t matter. It’s my way of venting.
I was venting, again, last week, except this time, my thoughts are seeing the light of day.
I think they need to.
I hear and read my good friend Dewey Moede say and write, “So much ________.” Lately, that blank has been filled with the word “hatred.”
Ashamedly, I see it from the very people who are supposed to be the people we look to for help, guidance, direction – our government leaders on both sides of the aisle. If you try convicting them of the hatred they spew about their co-horts – and, yes, they are co-horts – they will counter otherwise. “I have good friends who are Democrats/Republicans. I don’t hate them. This is politics.”
No, it’s purely and simply hatred. If it were anything else, they wouldn’t be saying the things they’re saying in front of a camera.
And what has it accomplished?
Many will say I’m simply too naive to think that it ever has been anything but this way for 200-plus years. I beg to differ.
I honestly don’t believe it has ever gotten to this point. There was at least a modicum of respect shown for one another even 50 or 60 years ago. Not any more.
There was a time when I would be angry about the actions of our leaders, but those days have transgressed into depression, mostly because I don’t see any way our government or our future will change. I believe we will be mired in governmental hatred forever.
It’s bad enough when I see it at the federal level, but it’s even worse when I see it coming from our state leaders. In their first meeting of the new Legislative session, leaders of the state House and Senate, together with the governor began lashing out at one another and they were only 20 minutes into their meeting.
As I said, I’m no longer angry, I’m depressed – for the future of our state and country.
This isn’t politics that these people are playing. They are playing with hatred – pure unadulterated hatred.
Truth be told, if they have hatred for one another, what love do they have for the people they serve? None, because as long as they continue to show hatred toward one another, they won’t be getting anything done for the people of this state, or – in the case of the federal government – the people of this country.
We all know where this hatred originates – Satan, of course. And he must be loving it. He must look at us and say, “I’ve got them right where I need them – bickering among themselves, actually lashing out against – killing (in the case of the attack on the nation’s Capitol) – each other. Ha, they’re not the United States of America. They are the Divided States of America. Look at this world power now.”
And he would be correct.
We’re in the middle of a worldwide pandemic that has led to the deaths of 400,000 people in the U.S. alone, and has put many in dire economic situations. When we need to look to our nation’s leaders for direction, we only see them backbiting, arguing, hating one another.
This pandemic is the worst situation our nation has dealt with in a century and the only thing our leaders can do is make it worse. If they can’t come together now to do something for the American public, they never will.
I’ve battled the doldrums of this pandemic, but I always have seemed to bounce back. There’s even light at the end of the tunnel with several new vaccines being administered that is attacking COVID-19.
There’s hope.
Sadly, I honestly don’t believe there’s an iota of hope for our country. We live in arguably the greatest country on earth. We have freedoms that many countries don’t enjoy. We have the opportunity to chase our dreams, if we so desire.
Yet, we would rather cave to Satan’s wants and hate one another, than follow Jesus and “love your neighbor as yourself.”
It’s obvious that there are two things evident inside of our state and federal governments – Satan has come to roost and there are no neighbors.
Indeed, our position as a world power is over. We are, with Satan’s direction, destroying ourselves from within.