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“Enemies” by Wendell Berry 🇺🇸 (5 Aug 1934 – 31 Aug 2026)
If you are not to become a monster,
you must care what they think.
If you care what they think,
​
how will you not hate them,
and so become a monster
of the opposite kind? From where then
​
is love to come—love for your enemy
that is the way of liberty?
From forgiveness. Forgiven, they go
​
free of you, and you of them;
they are to you as sunlight
on a green branch. You must not
​
think of them again, except
as monsters like yourself,
pitiable because unforgiving.