Changing Hate’s Route

You are not coming with us?" Lendi questioned Moya as they exited the park after completing their thirty-minute walk.

Moya nodded, bending to tighten her shoelaces, then said, “Sorry, I changed my route and rules in that direction years ago, and I am not going to reroute.”

“What route and rules?” Lendi questioned

“Hate’s route,” Moya said as they walked towards her car a few yards away.

“Look, she has her share of problems like all of us,” Lendi defends.

“And she isn’t learning from any of them. Whenever I am around her I am forced to think with anger, resentment, and negative emotions. She brings out the worst in all of us.”

“But she really does make us laugh,” Lendi continues to defend Aroya, one of their long-time friends.

“But she also brings us grief,” Moya stared at her in shock, as the memories of the cruelty and thoughtlessness she meted out to them over the years, threatened to rip down the barricade she built to keep hatred out of her body, heart, mind and soul.

“But it was you who said balance needs to play its part in our lives,” Lendi reminds her, avoiding eye contact.

Grabbing a deeper breath, staring at her in confusion, Moya asked, stopping at her car, “Balance is linked to weight. Did you weigh the laughter she gave against the pain she has been adding to our lives over the years?”

Lendi, eased towards the passenger side of the car, stopped at the door, and stared into Moya’s eyes.

Moya dived in, seaching her soul for any sight of the pain she knew her best friend was hiding. Knowing what pain looks and tastes like from years of enduring it from humanity, she searched. But years of built-up pain blocked her entry. Changing direction, her heart, and mind were also blocked by pain. In an attempt to demolish the blockade, she enlightened, “I weigh all of the good against the bad that humans share with me. I hold on to the good if it outnumbers the bad. Then use it as a tool to instill a level of change.”

Blinking, taking control back, Lendi questioned, “How do you do that?”

“I check the heart first. If I like what I see, you found a friend,” Moya explained. “That’s why we remained friends from when we were eight years old in the third grade.”

“You like my heart?” Lendi asked with furled brows.

“I give everyone a heart test.”

“And what do you do if you don’t like what you see?”

“I remove myself like I am doing now.”

“How can you do that?” she pleads. “All of my life I allow everyone to walk over me. It’s hard to say no.”

Moya eased away from the driver’s side and walked towards her. Lendi met her halfway, and almost collapsed in her arms as tears rendered her body weak. After consoling her, Moya eased her on the hood of her car and asked, “After the laughter ends, the pain always returns. I can’t take OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet, Tramadol, or Ibuprofen for that kind of pain. But #Iintend2survive, so I find a way to stop the pain.”

“How do you do that?” she asked between the tears.

“I go to the source or the root.”

“But that’s hard to do,” she said.

“Well, you can allow pain to destroy your life, or stop it.”

“It’s not that simple,” Lendi stressed, wiping her eyes with the back of her right hand.

“Do you remember when we were children and couldn’t attend anything our school put on because our parents couldn’t afford it?”

“That’s the reason why we studied so hard in school and did well so our future children don’t have to go through what we did,” she said too quickly.

With a smile, Moya reminds her, “We change poverty’s route. Now it’s time to change the route to pain and cruelty!”

Lendi’s eyes popped as understanding surged through her body, mind, heart, and soul, and she grabbed Moya, planted a huge kiss on her forehead, and demanded with renewed confidence, “Why did you wait so long to tell me this?”

“Girl, you know the right words, at the right time, is nourishment for the body, mind, heart, and soul!” Moya informs her smiling.

“Thank you, now I can change pain’s route,” Lendi said with a burst of confidence.

Silence seeps in as they both get into Moya’s car. Moya eased away from the park, Lendi wondered out loud, “How did you. . . . .what . . .”

In understanding, Moya answered, “Awareness. Life showed me that many humans are unaware of what is really going on in their lives.”

“My lack of awareness has contributed to all of my problems,” she said in reflection.

“Imagine the rest of the world!” Moya tickled her brain, stopping at the red light.

“That is a scary thought,” Lendi said.

Yes, all of us can change the route that pain, cruelty, hatred, and anything negative takes to get to us.

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

All of us have a route that good and bad takes to get to us. Awareness is the tool that will guide us in the right direction. The lack of it will be the weapon that can wreck our lives.

Are you aware of the route your life is taking?

Thank you for reaidn this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.