By: Rebecca Hall [Online editor] @chewwbeccaa

Since elementary kids are taught how strong of a word hate is, yet just a simple conversation with most high schoolers will reveal that they “hate” a lot of people. Everyone has people they don’t get along with, and thats okay as long as they avoid these people and don’t try to start a fight. What’s not okay is when people claim they hate someone that they have never even spoken to. Maybe they passed this person in the school hallways, are a friend of a friend or even just followed them on twitter, many people claim they hate a person that they don’t even know.

This is a very frustrating matter in high school because, as many know, reputations are a big thing for a lot of high schoolers. If a person goes around claiming that they hate someone that wouldn’t even be considered an acquaintance, this can make it look like the “hated” person seem like they did something terrible. Others may then judge that person and not want to be associated with them.

Usually when someone asks why that person hates so-and-so, they will not have a very solid answer. If the person isn’t at a loss for words, they will often have an excuse, some common excuses are “She just looks really mean,” or “He just acts like he is better than everyone else”. These judgments are honestly ridiculous. A person can’t tell how nice or mean someone is by the way they look. They don’t know nothing about this person and have no solid argument on why they are saying they hate them.

The fact of the matter is that if somebody doesn’t know a person, they can’t know if they are worthy of being loved or hated. One could say that they hate the person without knowing them and it could turn out that they get along really well. Judging other people by the way they walk down the hallway, the grades they get in school, who they are friends with, or any other trait without knowing someone is simply just childish.