I read this today and wondered if this is one of the reasons so many of us have such a hard time forgiving those who have hurt us ...

Do we believe that hatred is easier to deal with than pain?

"Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the one who hated, and this was an immutable law…

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

(James Baldwin, 1924 – 1987)