“But I say to you, love your enemies.”

When you were a child, did you ever have a brother or sister that you just didn’t get along with? Maybe you two were always fighting or arguing, or you just couldn’t bear the sight of each other.
I have that problem. I have one brother in particular that I often don’t get along very well with. We are always arguing and disagreeing, and much of the time it’s just hard for us to be around each other.
But this rivalry pales when I see the one that could have sprung up between several of my foreign-born brothers and sisters. Three of this group—two boys and one girl—come from a part of Russia that is right next to China. In fact, they are right across a river from each other.
The other is from China. Well, I don’t know how well Russia and China get along in general, but in the part of Russia that my siblings come from, they are conditioned not to like the Chinese. Chinese people sell stuff in their streets, much of it the outcasts that we rich Americans wouldn’t accept. The Chinese have records of generally not being the most likable people around.
So you see the problem. Three come from a place where they have learned to heartily dislike Chinese. One is Chinese. That would seem to be a breeding ground for strife.
Fortunately, it isn’t. Of course, almost no one gets along perfectly all the time, but there’s nothing more serious than the occasional argument or disagreement. (oh, and my two other Russian siblings are thought by the others to be Russian gypsies, which have the same reputation in Russia as they have here.)
To make a long story short, my siblings are living proof that it is possible to love your enemies. Even if your countries are enemies, it is possible to love the people living in them. Even if the people themselves hate you, it is still possible to be reconciled.