Hate. It's everywhere. It's impossible to avoid, and hurts when you're confronted with it. But why is it there?

I don't think that hate is a naturally occuring emotion. Everything, in my book, is taught. One good example is to remember what they always say: bullies are not mean people, but were perhaps bullied themselves and are now frustrated by that. Well, this is the same.

We don't know what hate is from the time we're born. Children are bestowed with, at least in the early parts of their life, all opinions their parents or caretakers have. Young children, during presidential elections, will side with whomever their parents choose. They believe in any religion they are born into, and sometimes even when they get older have no choice but continue on with that belief system.

If everyone just taught their children love, but never hate or discrimination, the world will be a better place. When I go to school, every day I find some form or other of cruelty towards other students. And it kills me, because no matter what I say to them, they never stop and just return what I say with nasty comments. It's like they have something to prove.

And I can just see it--years down the line, when their children are facing the same thing, they'll realize what jerks they'd been.

But why can't they realize it now? I don't understand why they don't. Does no one think ahead? Does no one empathize with the bullied party? Does no one wonder what pain that person must be going through, because of some insignificant difference? Maybe a difference that doesn't even exist?

And at school, there are always clubs and things that try to stop such things from happening, to raise awareness and stop bullying and idiotic decisions. But to me, it never makes a difference. No bully listens to them. And usually the teacher--whether it be an official teacher or a peer--sounds like a broken record.

And that's the problem. We've heard it all so many times before that we don't take it seriously whatsoever.

We learn more from experience than in school, it seems. No one truly gets it until it happens to them, or something terrible happens to the person they were mean to. Which is tragic, because then, it's too late.

Why can't everyone just think, at least once in a while? Why is that so hard to understand? Why can't anyone realize their wrongdoings?

But I know it will never stop. That is the irreversible, inevitable way of things that we must learn to tolerate. All we can hope to do is learn to ignore.

But if you're out there, and you decide you think it's possible to change the way things are, good luck to you. Keep striving. I'll be rooting for you. I myself don't believe it possible, but if it is, I hope you find a way to make it happen. I mean, it could happen.

It could.