I know you’re probably sick of the Avett brothers, but today I feel like discussing “The Ballad of Love and Hate.” This song holds a special place in my heart for a very mean little boy, who has some serious growing up to do.
The song chronicles a love affair between two people, who care for each other very much, but are held apart by resentment. For whatever reasons there are, “Hate,” the obvious antagonist in the story, does everything he can to push “Love” out of his life. He drinks, he skulks, and he curses the world for leaving him in such a resentful place, while Love does everything she can to earn some compassion.
A favorite quote of mine is “Those who hate most fervently must have once loved deeply; those who want to deny the world must have once embraced what they now set on fire.” I know from my own experiences that the ones we hold the most against are the ones that we have loved the most. Anger fuels brightest from disappointment, and hurt from being let down time and again. The problem is that most of us lose ourselves in that resentment, and in turn lose precious friendships from mistakes. In this song there is a happy ending, but only because Hate submits himself to Love’s open arms. For the majority of this won’t happen. Whether we have fueled someone to hate us, or left someone out of our own hatred, we refuse to look back on the underlying cause, love, and therefore block it from coming back into our lives.
I thought this song was really touching. I like the way some of the lyrics rhymed and also the way the song told a story. It hurts us the most when someone we love harms us in some way. Those we hate the most are those we used to trust and love.
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