The stories I knew growing up featured villains that were simply lumpy, body-shaped hate, not real people. They were completely irredeemable. When the story ends, you want them to lose, and you want them to lose really, really, hard, whatever that would mean for that story.
I don’t really know what an enemy would look like in real life. Sure there are people we don’t like, but an enemy? What does that even mean on an interpersonal level?
When somebody offends you, or there’s somebody who you just can’t get along with, it’s easy to want to completely dismiss them. So it’s weird when, no matter how hurt you are by some body, or how frustrated you are, or how impossible your differences seem, you realize that person is a person. They were a person before, they are still a person now, and they are not a villain in their own mind. Almost nobody is. They think that they are right, and you are wrong (How could they! /s), and it can be very hard to prove either way.
And even if they are wrong, that still doesn’t make that person not a person. I guess that’s the hard thing. You can’t just dismiss that person. You can’t wish horrible vengeance on them because they, like you, are struggling. They have hopes and fears and joy and pain.
Real life conflict is hard. Despite your disagreements, they are like you. It makes sense, then, that Jesus instructs us to pray for our enemies. It is good that we should remember their humanity, wish for their good, and not allow ourselves to turn to bitterness or hate.
Because I am not so different.
