Taught To Hate Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

How many valued relationships,
Have been destroyed...
By those professing to be innocent,
As they depict themselves as victims.

How many are quick to listen,
To those who lie?
Unknowing the ones who do this...
Are seeking more attention yet deceive.

How many are easily duped,
To awaken to learn they have been fools?
And how many discover it is too late,
To appreciate the ones they have been taught to hate.

And...
How many of those who have been hated,
Have turned their backs...
On those who now each other attack?

And...
How many who attack each other like that,
Wish those they should have appreciated...
Returned to defend their backs.

And...
How many who have ever been backstabbed,
Feel honored they have been asked to defend...
Those who had betrayed them.