The Story of Love and Hate

Once upon a time, when the earth was new, there lived two sisters – Love and Hate. The moon gave them life and they made their home by the sea, watching the world as it grew around them. The sisters were mirror images of each other. Where Love’s hair was long and blonde, Hate’s short locks were dark as midnight. Hate’s striking eyes shone a brilliant blue, and Love’s soft-brown irises conveyed kindness and understanding to all they looked upon. The sisters were known far and wide to be the moon’s favorite creations.

One day while playing on the beach, the sisters met someone new. A boy named Hope. Hope was fickle with his affection and each sister began to feel strongly for him, but in the end, Hope was drawn only to Love. Love and Hate began to drift apart and Hate took to walking on the beach alone. On this faithful day, Hate came upon a sight that stopped her dead in her tracks. Love and Hope were wrapped in an embrace. Hate became so enraged that she grabbed a shell from the sea and began to slice Hope with gashes deep enough to split the flesh. In her rage, she turned on Love but Hope threw himself in front of Love, ensuring the shell cast a fatal blow across his neck. Crazed with grief, Love grabbed the shell and sliced her own throat, knowing she could never live without Love. The two lay dying at Hate’s feet – what had she done? She cried to the moon for help, but the moon did not answer and Love and Hope bled into the ocean.

Now Hate was alone. Without her sister. Without her love. She became bitter and unkind, blaming Love and Hope for her misery. She began searching the earth for anything left of them. From time to time she would happen upon their spirit, their remnants, and she would do everything in her power to ensure they never breathed life again. To this day, Hate roams the earth seeking her vengeance. She tries and tries and will never give up…

But what she will never understand is that Hate cannot kill Love, as long as Hope is there to protect it.

Love and Hate

Love and Hate

One Turtle at a Time

So a rabbit, a squirrel and a turtle are on the side of the road. Yes, I know this sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it’s really the sight my son and I came across the other morning. Since it’s summer (I believe I’ve already expressed my disdain for this time of year), my son stays with my mom some days. They live on a golf course and have all sorts of wildlife, so it’s not like this was a complete shock. It was odd though. The squirrel almost ran in front of my car and then thought better of it, but the turtle took a shaky step onto the road just in time for me to veer around him. I’ll have to stop on the way back, I thought as I drove. To my surprise, I didn’t. A car was pulled off to the side and a teenage boy was walking the turtle to the safety of the grass where it belonged. And I don’t mean picking it up and traumatizing the poor thing. I mean walking very slowly behind it, encouraging it to not give up and making sure it got where it was going. The boy’s mother and I made eye contact as I passed by and I gave her the nod and a smile. I was hoping to convey ‘you’ve got a good kid there, lady’ with that smile and nod. I hope I did.

If you’ve held more than a five-minute conversation with me, you’ve likely heard me declare that I hate people. I do. We’re wretched for the most part and a plague on this planet. I get so upset when I watch the news that I either cry or curse. Someone stealing from someone, killing someone, hurting someone, it’s a continuous cycle of disgusting behavior and I get more and more sickened by it the older I get…and then there’s this kid, saving the life of a turtle and his obviously late for work mom watching on with a smile.  I want to believe in us. I want to believe we can do better, be better. So I shall try to see the better side of things, one turtle at a time.16c3c1a302d47ab47ceb70c5a6d7ec8a

 

~Originally posted 9/2013