ON THE LOVE OF ENEMIES

 A woman asked the Gadfly, “We are taught to love our enemies.  How is it possible to raise ourselves to this level of self-denial?” 

 The Gadfly said, “To love your enemies can only be done from a position of strength.  It is only for those who still falter under the sting of their wounds that the love of enemies is a denial of self.  This is not love, but merely our clinging to a smaller and more comfortable vision of self.  This song does not sing in key with our nobler heart.  Real love flows from a powerful abundance of life.  To bestow that abundance upon the ignorant, wounded souls who maim and destroy is not to cast your pearls before swine.  It is the action of a stronger person having compassion upon the weak.  You cannot do this by raising the level of your self-denial.  You must raise the level of your self-affirmation.”