Hate often prevails,
Coming so much easier than love.
Hate is deceptively simple;
But yet it can crumble mountains,
Countries,
Lives.
It is effortless to see the differences between us—
But so arduous to see the similarities.

The fact that we both have two arms
Is but a pebble in the ocean of the fact
That mine are covered with light skin
And yours are dark.
Wide eyes see that hers are slanted
But not what lies behind them.

We’ve come a long way, they say approvingly.
Smiles, handshakes and black presidents.
But hate lingers,
living on in cracks and crevices,
And behind closed doors.
White hoods still hang in the dark corner
Of closets; and
Swastikas stand hidden behind other symbols,
As we live on unaware.

Love takes time and energy,
Things we have so little of already.
It requires changing how we think,
How we act,
And what we’ve come to know.

Greater than the ability to crumble mountains,
Love has the ability to raise people
And nations,
To new heights
that they have never seen before.

One day we will see the common trait that bonds us all as one
The attribute that great men have risen,
Then fallen,
To show us.