Overcoming hatred with kindness
Recent BFI & Canal+ movie “The Old Oak” shows how a family of Syrian immigrants gains the empathy and kindness of the locals in North-East Britain.
“The Old Oak” Movie
The fact that Syrian refugees started coming into an old Mining town in the North-East England was a concern for the locals. They saw the houses being bought at cheap prices by someone who wasn't even living in their town. It was all bought so that they give refuge to the people from war torn countries.
The locals had other ideas with influence of social media and news about a conservative approach towards how the refugees come and take over their jobs and are living in a much better condition than the locals.
They being inflicting slur words and curses on the newly arrived immigrants asking them to go back to their country and stop bringing their religion and culture to pollute their town.
This all changes with a photographer Yara and a local pub owner TJ Ballantyne, who team up and tries to be more humane in their approach towards treating each other through the different circumstances in their lives. Even though the pub-owner gets lot of hate for his support for the immigrants, he just goes ahead and helps out for a good cause.
This helps the locals later and people being reaping the rewards of the good work put in by Yara and Ballantyne. They get back to being social again and helping each other in the small community and their hate towards immigrants and migrants disappear by the end of the movie. One good deed changes the entire community who were looking inwards and they start to look outwards and treat others same as humans as they would to their brothers and sisters in their community.
My Real life experience
My neighbours had few scuffs with our household for sometime and there was some animosity regarding each other.
All that was changed just because I tried over coming that with good behaviour. Initially there was some friction but they when the people understood that it is not anything bad intention in my heart by the actions, they automatically changed their behaviour and tried to be good people with me and family.
So people and society change even if its just in some small scale by good behaviour of the people around them.
Win people over with Love and not with hate. Love has a positive effect and hate cannot overpower it.
Peace and God bless!
