EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK I AM READING "DEATH OF THE ADVERSARY"

BY HANS KEILSON

"PERHAPS, THEY REALLY IMAGINED, THE DON QUIXOTES, THAT THEY COULD TRAMPLE DEATH UNDERFOOT IF THEY TRAMPLED ON ITS VISIBLE SYMBOLS - THE DEATH THAT WAS ALREADY SO BIG WITHIN THEM THAT THEY HAD TO TRAMPLE IT OUT OF THEMSELVES AT NIGHT WITH DREAD AND HATRED.... HATRED CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT A DROP OF LOVE, OR IT IS NO LONGER HATRED BUT A COLD DEVASTATION... IT IS NOT WITH HATRED, IT IS WITH LIFE THAT YOU MUST FIGHT YOUR BATTLE AGAINST DEATH. HATRED IS YOUR ENEMY, AND YOU MUST WATCH IT BECAUSE IT IS A DANGEROUS ADVERSARY. HATRED TOO, MUST BE LEARNED. TODAY IT IS A WEAKNESS, TOMORROW IT CAN BE A SOURCE OF STRENGTH, BUT ALWAYS IT IS A FORCE THAT ONLY GLOWS IN TRANSFORMATION. AND IF YOU HAVE EVEN A LITTLE LOVE FOR LIFE, YOU WILL TRANSFORM IT WITHIN YOU, THERE WHERE YOU YOURSELF ARE YOUR OWN ENEMY.. EVEN IF YOU SHOULD THINK - BUT IT IS NOT TRUE - THAT YOU ARE FIGHTING ME BECAUSE WE HAVE DIFFERENT OPINIONS, ALL THAT YOU ARE FIGHTING AGAINST IS YOUR OWN... AS LONG AS YOU AND I HAVE NOT LEARNED THIS HATRED THAT RISES FROM A GOOD AND FULL HEART AND TENDS TOWARDS LIFE, THIS HATRED WHICH ENSHRINES A DROP OF LOVE, FOR SO LONG ARE WE BAD ADVERSARIES IN THIS WORLD, NOT WORTH ENCOUNTERING ONE ANOTHER.