Hate and Forgiveness

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Hate and Forgiveness

R. Ross Whalen • Nov 25, 2020

Has there ever been a set of issues that can produce such a fertile ground for stories? Not in my mind there hasn’t. Hate is one of those emotions. It drives people like no other. When you hate something, and as humans we all hate to some degree, it sticks in your craw. Gets under your skin. You find yourself thinking about what you hate morning, noon, and night. It digs at you until you are forced to do something to remove the hate in one fashion or another.

Hate often leads to vengeance. This is the basis for one of my favorite books – The Count of Monte Cristo. For those of you who might for some reason not know the story (you should stop this right now and go get the book), it goes like this:

1. Young man is in love and his life is golden.

2. Another young man wants wants this young man’s woman. A second young man wants the position this first young man is set to be given by his employer. A third man simply hates the first.

3. The three conspire to rid themselves of this happy young man. They betray him by accusing him of political nonsense which back in the days of Napoleon can be fatal.

4. The young man is thrown into the bastille. A prison of nightmarish proportions where he sits and ponders the men who betrayed him. His hate grows until all he can think of is vengeance. He meets another prisoner who tells him where he buried all his pirate loot.

5. The young man escapes and perpetuates his vengeance on those who betrayed him only to discover it doesn’t alleviate his hate.

Now this story covers the entire spectrum of human emotions from the beginning when Edmond Dantes, the young man who is betrayed, discovers the truths about humanity. It is never simple nor is it black and white. The story is filled with the shades of grey of such betrayals and triumphs.

Another story which so richly demonstrates the power of hate and the grey areas of vengeance is little Aria in The Game of Thrones series. She repeats the names of those she intends to kill every night. Her hate keeps her warm. Keeps her focused. Turns her into one of the most skilled assassins in the realms of the seven kingdoms.

And yet, she never kills the Hound. One of her first sworn enemies. She leaves him to die on his own the first time and later she and the Hound form a grudging respect for one another. Aria’s story is one of the better ones inside the many based inside The Game of Thrones.

Which leads us to the flip side of hate. Not love, but forgiveness which is an entirely different thing altogether. You can love someone but not forgive them. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things to do as a human. The search for it has driven many a story. The lack of it has driven still more.

My own story, Ronnie’s Revenge is based on both hate and forgiveness. The lack of one and the overabundance of another. It is a story of a young woman’s rape and the horrible way she is treated afterwards. Along the way she confronts herself and the truth of what happened the night she was brutalized and who truly was responsible.

Ronnie isn’t searching for forgiveness. Nor does she want it or is willing to give it. She hates. Hates so bad her entire being is focused on how much pain she can cause those who changed her world into a living nightmare. And yet? Hate and forgiveness are two sides of the same coin. Where there is one there is the other.

Ask yourself, do you hate? What do you hate? Is it easier to write about what you hate than it is to write about what you love? And can you forgive? Truly forgive?

I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press, and I’m out.

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