My Sainted Mother once told me (I’m sure of this though I don’t remember the precise instance) that if I didn’t have anything nice to say that I shouldn’t say anything at all. Of course Mom also said that there was a Santa Clause and a Tooth Fairy so she’s not exactly batting a thousand. Still, I will try and keep the following words as nice and calm as I can.

There have been a couple of people in the last few days that have used a disaster for personal gain. Though this gain may or may not be expressly monetary, to profit in any way from the suffering of others and to not even bat an eye is not inhuman, but it is at the very least callous and in my opinion unforgivable. I wish I could expect different words from either man in question, particularly the one that calls himself a man of God, but I don’t.

Now would be the point where I would usually say something like, “We’re all sinners and none of us are beyond salvation.” I believe that to be true, no matter the person in question. The most “sainted” person isn’t perfect and the most evil could be forgiven if they would but ask. Still I find myself unable to generate any sense of Christian charity for these two men.

My preference would be that their respective audiences would turn off the devices that they consume the words of these men on, that they would write letters, make calls, and bring torches and pitchforks to the very doors of the institutions responsible for bringing not only these particular examples of hate filled speech but many other instances besides into the homes of people around the world. That part of me would be satisfied to see their careers fall into ruin and for them to be unable to earn a single cent or a shred of their credibility back for the rest of their natural lives.

I wouldn’t, as some have, wish them harm, whether here or in the after life. I would want them to have the health and opportunity so that they could eventually come to realize just what they’ve said and to sorrow for it. I don’t honestly believe that that would ever happen, any more than I really think that what audience they do have would be offended and then take action. Still, there is a part of me that holds out some hope in that direction.

The problem with all of this of course is that my own continued hatred of them would be no more healthy or righteous than their own misguided hatred. It feels good in the moment and I can see some of you shaking your head and thinking how right this anger of mine (and perhaps yours) is, but it’s not. I don’t think holding hatred in your hearts even for the most despicable of men is a healthy way to live. Feeling it in the moment is perhaps completely natural, but to dwell on it, to hold on to it isn’t.

These men deserve pity. Their lives have become something worse than anything I could wish on another human being. They have held on to their hate. It has born fruit and has poisoned not only their lives but the lives of those that idolize them. I don’t want that for you or for me. So, in honor of the man whose birthday this is, I’ll close with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote from Strength to Love, “Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.” and by saying donate what you can to the folks down in Haiti and pray for them if you’re so inclined.