Hate. It’s a word we hear often and used almost carelessly in moments of frustration or irritation. “I hate this,” someone might say, annoyed at a slow internet connection, or “I hate you,” spoken with little thought after a disagreement. But hate, when it’s real, isn’t a word you toss around. Hate is a feeling that runs deep, an emotion that cuts to the core, and one that, when truly
experienced, doesn’t just fade with time or distance.
To say you “hate” something or someone is to admit to a feeling that doesn’t just sit on the surface. It’s not a fleeting discomfort or irritation that can be washed away with a change of environment. True hate is intense, visceral — a sensation that is not easily dismissed or ignored. You cannot say you hate something and still find yourself drawn to it. You cannot hate someone and still feel calm in their presence or tolerate their very existence without discomfort. Real hate comes with a physical reaction, a visceral aversion that leaves you uneasy, even sick. It’s a feeling that makes your stomach churn and your pulse race. It is not simply a word. It’s an emotional rupture, a boundary you cannot cross.
Too often, we use “hate” to describe things that we simply dislike or disagree with. We say we hate the rain, or the way a song sounds, or the way someone behaves. But that is not hate; it’s annoyance, frustration, or disappointment. It’s easy to say you hate something when the feeling is fleeting and without consequence. But true hate isn’t something that can be shared so easily, or so casually. It’s not something you can say in one breath and forget in the next.
Hate is not about petty grievances. It’s not about disliking someone’s laugh or being irritated by their quirks. Hate is born from a deeper place. It often comes from a violation, from a betrayal, from something that shakes your world to its core. It’s the feeling that consumes you, forces you to distance yourself, to look away, or to break contact. To truly hate someone is not to simply avoid them—it’s to feel your very being recoil from their presence, to want to erase them from your life in a way that goes beyond forgiveness or reconciliation.
Dislike can be brushed off, even understood. It’s a normal part of being human. But hate is different. To hate is to carry an emotional scar, a wound that keeps bleeding. It lingers in a way that dislike does not. When you say you hate someone, it should come with the understanding that you are not just expressing annoyance—you are acknowledging a feeling that is heavy, consuming, and hard to shake. Real hate isn’t something you can ignore. It doesn’t allow for calm interactions or polite facades.
So why do we use the word so lightly? Why do we throw it around as if it carries the same weight as saying we “don’t like” something? Perhaps it’s easier to say we hate something than to confront the deeper emotional truth that lies beneath it. Perhaps it’s a way of simplifying a complex feeling, making it feel more manageable.
So, the next time you say you “hate” something, ask yourself: Do I really know what it means to hate? Because hate is a force on its own, one that’s far more complex than a passing annoyance or a quick judgment. And it deserves more respect than to be used as a convenient word for the trivial moments of life.
Oloruntobiloba Elizabeth OLAGUNJU
Class of 2027