In recent days I have come in contact with a form of hate that should have been gone long ago. I will not go into great detail here, that will come in story form later, but what I will say right here and now is that there is simply no place in our world for hate.
There has been a lot of soul searching and reflecting over the last few weeks and an immersion into some good preaching, and the sabbatical from me being in this place every week is now over.
The answers seem so simple, but many still struggle.
In our world today, we hate wearing masks, we hate social distancing, and we hate not being able to be where we want to be and do the things we want to be doing. Perhaps we have taken our freedoms for granted, I don’t know. But, what I do know is we do all of these things to protect ourselves, but more so to protect those around us.
We must find a way to get through this pandemic, and that way must be based in love and understanding.
Let me start with this.
For many years, those closest to me have heard me utter the words, “I hate doctors and the medical profession as a whole.” That hatred was born of years of watching my wife suffer, and seeing that suffering come at the hands of doctors that simply didn’t care. Their so-called oath seemed to be thrown out with the trash, as she endured so much that was unnecessary.
In my eyes still, it was that uncaring that ultimately cost me my precious Patty Jean, cost my kids their mother, my grandkids their Grammy, and her family their daughter and sister.
I found it easy to hate the ones that I deemed put her through that suffering, but I know now that hating the few gave me no cause to hate them all, or even the ones I did so vehemently.
Reflecting on my statement of hate, I was such a narrow-minded idiot.
How could I say I hate doctors and the profession, when I know so many good ones, and call them my friend. There is Dr. Andrew Minigutti, who treated Patty for more than a decade, and who I credit for keeping her alive a lot longer than she would have been. He re-trained his staff to treat her, he often treated her without charge, and he became our friend. He still is mine, and I value that friendship greatly.
