We have two choices in every action and thought to sow- either a seed of love or one of hatred. When a mother complains to her children about the irresponsibility of their father, she sows a small seed of doubt which when the child’s desires are unfulfilled becomes dislike and when the father (who may have been right) reprimands the child, the seed of doubt and dislike becomes hate.
We expect our neighbors to be nice to us, but when they are not, when they don’t invite us for a function in their home, even though we had
always helped them in the past, their action sows a seed of hatred in us. We
could water that seed or let it go, forgive and also forget but that is up to
us.
A teacher sows
hatred for a fellow student when one child is praised inordinately compared to
the other. A principal sows hatred by being partial to her favorite teacher by
giving some extra rope to one and by dealing with strictness with others.
A mother-in-law sows hatred between daughters-in-law when she gives more gifts to one or
loves one’s children more than the others.
An employer
sows seeds of hatred in a worker when he underpays and over-works.
In all these
cases, seeds of love could also easily have been planted. The mother could have
extolled the virtues of the father to their children, the neighbor could have
invited them to the function, the teacher could be impartial and fair to all
children, sensitive to not hurting a weak child, and the principal could be
impartial as well, the mother in law could love all her daughters-in-law with equal
kindness, the employer could be fair to his worker and so on.
Each time we
walk the path of righteousness we sow a seed of love. Seeds of hate are such
that they poison the life of the very person who sows them, leaving them with bitter fruits and unrestful minds.
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