Full of Hatred and Emptiness

Listening to the radio the other day, I heard this description of too many people of the world: "They are full of hatred and emptiness." Now, I know that technically you can be full of emptiness and yet I found it a compelling and accurate depiction of many people. People are empty. We could debate the reason(s). I believe some of them include the concerted effort by many to remove God from everything; the ever growing division, world-wide, of the haves and have-nots; and the growing use of more and more powerful/destructive drugs (although this could be a cyclical argument, drug use causing emptiness and emptiness encouraging drug use). People strive to fill that emptiness with whatever is available and there are too many people/groups that are standing by waiting to fill up that emptiness with hatred. Hatred of what is not important. Because once you're filled with hatred, your targets soon become almost insignificant. You just hate. And the more you use the hatred to fill yourself up, the more you lose yourself and become consume with hatred. This description of hatred and emptiness was used to describe the church group (oxymoronic title at best) that wanted to picket the Amish girls’ funerals to promote their anti-gay sentiments. This group has made statements that they pray (to God?) that the people of Pennsylvania will continue to suffer to show them that gays are bad. It's illogical, but then hatred is. The Amish, fortunately, offer a glimmer of sanity amidst this. The Amish are not empty. They have a definite purpose (and their tie to the land may contribute to that) and are filled with love. Children need to be filled with a purpose for their lives. As a parent or any adult who interacts with children you can fill children up with love or hatred. Do you spout love or hatred? Do you live love or hatred? Are you more like the church group or the Amish? May you make room in your heart for God and love, so there is no space for hatred.