Being bed-ridden for the past 48 hours has made me think about something that’s been playing on my mind for the past few weeks. I have come to realise that there are a great many similarities between hate and love. It sounds strange, however every single time I go on twitter or instagram I see so many individuals adamant to cause destruction, pain and upset. I see girls as young as 13 telling others to self-harm, even kill themselves. I see people desperate to unpick a person’s stability; they find any shred of insecurity within a person and play on it. I see people who actively seek confrontation- people who can’t accept the fact that people are allowed to like more than one band. I view these people, not with anger, but with sadness; I pity the ignorance that appears to cloak the world of social media. I worry for the innocence of young teenagers who will soon enter this world of deceit and quarrel. I worry for my younger sister, who knows nothing of this hatred. However, what amazes me the most here is that this negative notion could so easily be adjusted into something positive. The attributes present in a hateful relationship are as necessary in a loving one. For example, these hateful people are determined- determined to bring someone down. Love requires determination in order to develop and flourish; you must be determined to break the restrains around you and be with someone you love. Desperation- I see people desperate to provoke a reaction, desperate to source that inner misery when searching for insecurities within others. I believe that desperation has a role in love- the notion of one acting in ‘rash or extreme behaviour’ should be present in love, because love does not know restrain, nor does it know time. Love knows when to go all in, regardless of what may be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. You see, when comparing love and hate, it’s not hard to recognise similarities- both require intense emotion; in fact, they share the same emotions entirely, it is simply down to us to adhere to what they are telling us. This has led to question why do we focus so heavily on the negatives on social media? - why do we argue about bands, hair, songs, girls, boys? … this will never result in solitude. Why don’t we use the very same emotions in a constructive way, making something beautiful?
