Hatred takes work. it takes time and energy and patience as well as planning. It is not an easy thing to keep up over time. It is not as easy as it is to hate. So, perhaps we must simply “dislike”? Perhaps. But then the work simply becomes more specific. It is less broad and comes with questions: what degree of “dislike”? Is there a chance for forgiveness? It all becomes so complicated.

“There is a hill I will die on…” we tell ourselves. There is “a point of no return…” we say. And so we think to ourselves what that hill might be, or where that point is. Perhaps we pour ourselves a cup of coffee and ponder these questions. And times passes. There is no clear answer but now time invested time and energy. We still don’t like the person we wanted to hate but we’ve found that hatred burns hot and quick and the embers of dislike become cool.

Eventually we find that we don’t have to do anything. We simply have to be honest, both with ourselves and the person we wanted to hate, or at the very least dislike. But we can do these things in silence or even better, disregard. The best we have is apathy. Whatever takes the least amount of our time and energy and effort. If the hill or the point is truly there then why spend more time than needed getting to them. Let them sit in peace.

Our time is priceless and there is only so much energy. Why waste it on those that aren’t worth the effort?! Be honest. Be courteous, but be miserly with time and energy. Those are really the only things we have.