On Hate

Things that don't annoy me:
- others decorating for Christmas early
- the pervasive presence of pumpkin spice
- pickles (yes, I said it...)

Things that do annoy me:
- people turning the internet into a slog of meaningless complaints

And here's why.  I have a ten year old that "hates" everything. He throws the word around like beads at Mardi Gras. I spend a solid portion my existence trying to imbue him with a little tolerance.

I have a classroom full of eleven year olds to whom I attempt to impart some social skills. We work on avoiding name calling, and oh how I try to teach them not to use group labels as insults.

Then I use social media, the playground of the adult world, and I see hate, name-calling, and insults slung at will. Yes, amongst friends, it's generally faux hate. But I guess I am at a loss for when hating things became fun.

Can we go back to the days when people ranted on their blogs and Facebook was for sharing pictures of our food?

I hate.

Hate.