I remember being gullible as a child. I believed what I was told and some of it lead to being molested by a pedophile. I was a trusting child, completely unaware of such vile evil.

I’ve paid a heavy price for that innocence for decades. People here in DU have had many conversations on this theme so there is no need to go over what the price in self esteem and trust issues. The reason I bring it up at all is that it’s an example of why it is necessary sometimes to vehemently reject the murderers and their instigators. It’s because if we don’t we will find ourselves again living as their victims.

Today the talk of reaching out and using love to counter Trump and his deliberate use of violent language to create havoc and hatred towards people like me is making me feel literally sick. Hating Trump for what he is and does is a survival reaction. It doesn’t mean I would commit evil on him or his minions. But it does mean that I cannot reach out in love or brotherhood to them. It is not my responsibility to turn their hearts away from the hatred they seem to need. I would be a fool, after my life’s hardest lessons, to ignore what I’ve learned for self survival. My tendency to think all people are good would only encourage them to use and abuse me. I would be complicit in encouraging their worst behavior. I hope you can understand this.