Here’s an account of a young woman’s brief encounter with hate:

“I’ve always been a good, kindhearted person.  Patience, understanding, and respect were my true assets.  Since I was a child I not once uttered a swear word out loud (I only sometimes did it in my head when I was provoked).  I didn’t know how to get angry at someone or to firmly assert for my rights — I was always ready to give in and accommodate the other party.  I was a people person.

“My sister was the exact opposite of me.  I wouldn’t say she was a bad person, only that she was impatient, irritable, and she always wanted to do things her way even if everybody else told her not to.  She swore on a regular basis, she was angry almost every other day, and she always used a tone when talking to my stepdad.

“Yes, I lived with a stepfather.  My biological dad died when I was four (my sister was barely  a year old), and my mom remarried years later.  My stepfather was a strict disciplinarian.  He was half-Chinese and he believed in the saying, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”  Physical punishment was no surprise.  But he always showed that he truly loved my mom, so we didn’t care much about his “macho tantrums.”

“I went away for college and didn’t see my family as often anymore.  My sister spent her entire high school life with Dad.  She got most of the beatings; she got literally thrown out of the house once for being clumsy, and she took all the hits thrown at her by my stepfather during our childhood (she always messed up around the house — breaking things and accidentally short-circuiting electric outlets).  All of this transformed her into a rebellious teenager. That explains why she turned out to be the exact opposite of me, who luckily cheated a couple of years away from him.

“I returned home after graduation, and that’s when all the fire started.  Just one month with my stepfather and I couldn’t take it anymore.  It seems that the older he became, the more exaggerated his tantrums were.  Little things made him angry all the time, and he was always ordering us around like servants.  He talked as if he knew everything and we knew nothing.  Nobody could tell him anything he didn’t already know.  He was a mindless control freak and I wanted nothing more than to be rid of him.