After watching a Humans of New York segment about this man commenting on the stark differences between the feeling of anger and hate, I had my own realizations on the temperamental nature of emotions. When someone says that they are angry, usually that emotion is provoked by a fairly recent event or association. The person could have an overall persona of pure happiness, but that one infliction can subject this person to a serious self-assessment. Most emotions, however, pass quickly and are merely small waves in an undulating sea of various sentiments. In this way anger is not a defining quality, rather an impermanent transitionary state.

To hate, however, is to be stripped of all love. I think people that continuously hate express a much deeper and withstanding feeling that obstructs their ability to feel joy. I don’t understand why one would choose to be something all the time, forfeiting all positivity, when there are on whim reactions like frustration and irritation that can serve as vehicles of anger.

In current media it has become increasingly common for people to claim that they “hate everyone” and that they hate this or that. I really think the term is being misused, as an offense of little severity never justifies an overall hatred for something or someone. I also don’t think such phrases should be trending because it in essence is popularizing a feeling of mental destruction that in the long run can be a source of deprivation.

And so I must refocus my thoughts to convey the necessity of acknowledging one’s feelings in a manner that encourages change, and not stagnant negativity. I truly believe that instances pass with time, and so we should strive to live in a background of present happiness.