It’s much easier to assume that others treat you poorly or “hate you” because of the group that you belong to rather then the decisions that you’ve made. I’m not saying that anyone should disdain for another individual for another just because of a “small poor decision” but what appears small in our book might appear very large in someone else’s book. I remember waiting a long period time after being stopped by a police officer for a small infraction and getting out of the car to ask him what was taking so long. He was less then polite with my “small decision” to get out of the car and I agreed that this decision was a big infraction in his mind and quickly returned to my car to wait and wait. It ended up as a small ticket infraction that changed my night instead of my life.
There are of course people who will hate you because of your race, religion, customs or just because you cheer for a certain team or will even use a partially hatred of such to act in a colder way toward you when you do something wrong compared to others who don’t share this trait. Yet if we assume the better of others then we are the ones that must change and that is something we can control. Who knows by our small acts of kindness maybe we can change those persons hearts bent on hating groups so the next time they dislike something it will only be based on action not a group.