The Futility of Hate

I’ve never understood hate. Don’t get me wrong, I say I hate some things. I hate traffic, I hate liver, I hate the cold, I hate the way I look in these pants, but that’s not the hate I’m talking about.
I mean the apparent ease with which people hate, the reasons they hate and the lengths they go to express that hate. I’ve seen a lot in my many decades on this planet and I still don’t understand why people hate for such superficial reasons like appearance, background, beliefs, or hate an entire group because of the actions of a few.

Disagree? Sure, but hate? Especially hate that turns to violence. What benefit is there for hater or the hated? What change does that actually bring? What gain is there in removing the ability to discuss, compromise, empathize, coexist in hopes of a better tomorrow for everyone?

Look, I’m no saint. If someone hurt someone I loved or I was in a survival situation, I can’t predict how I would respond, but that’s totally different than hate because of certain differences.

Maybe I’m just naïve, but that seems futile. Whatever happened to judging someone by the content of their character or not judging a book by its cover, or judge not lest ye be judged?

These days we are quick to anger, quick to judge for the slightest reason. Maybe, just maybe, we can see how damaging that is to our society. That focusing on our differences rather than our similarities puts us on a path of self-destruction.

Maybe, just maybe, a season about peace and love will stand out this time and show us a better way. I have to believe in that and it’s why our actions at Freedom matter so much. That’s why doing good is more important than just doing good business.

Besides, in the words of Elvis Costello, “what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding.”

Build

From small things, big things grow. Like a seed that turns into a giant redwood, the little choices we make and small steps we take have a larger impact. The minor things many take for granted are the foundation of something greater and, dare I say, very important for how we build a team, a credit union, and a community. By helping each other, encouraging each other, and supporting each other through good times and bad we build, we grow, we get stronger. The key term, of course, is we. What we build is a culmination of many people, ideas, skills, backgrounds and so on. We build Freedom together but also with our community and our members. Even though the saying is “if you build it, they will come”, I believe it’s more:

If you build it, they may come. If you build it with them, they’re already here.

Dream

There’s a song from the musical Man of la Mancha called The Impossible Dream. It’s a powerful song starting off with the words:

“To dream the impossible dream. To fight the unbeatable foe. To bear with unbearable sorrow and to run where the brave dare not go.”

Intense, huh? The song basically talks about following your dreams that seem like they would never be achievable, to do what’s right and to be willing to go through difficulties in order to reach your ultimate goal which is referred to as the unreachable star. I see the Freedom mission in this.

If you think about it, we’re in a business where we compete with other, not just large, but humungous, financial institutions. How do we stand out? How do we contend? How do we survive and grow when others have more resources?

By doing what’s right that’s how. Right for our members, for our employees and for our community. By being a trusted partner and by putting people before profit. Seventy years in business may seem like a drop in the bucket to some, but it’s not the number of years, it’s what you do with them.

From my perspective, we’ve used that time, especially in the most recent years, to dream the impossible dream and keep reaching for that unreachable star. The journey can be challenging. It requires resiliency, flexibility, patience, commitment, and a belief that we make a difference.

I’ve seen the difference we make, and I believe our continued success is because others have seen it too. But we’re not done yet. In fact, we’ve only just begun. There are still foes to fight and stars to reach and the dream gets more possible every day.