Who is an enemy?
To me an enemy is someone that disregards you and doesn't have your best interests in mind. Enemies purposely stand in your way, hurt your feelings, and spread bad news about you.
I do believe in the Christian principle to love your enemies, and I think about that a lot. Enemy acts typically rise from a place of hurt, destitution, frustration or anger. I don't believe enemies are born, I believe enemies are made.
So how do you face an enemy? Even more challenging, how do you love an enemy? What can you do?
First, recognize who your enemies are. Who are the people who are unforgiving, unkind, and hurtful to you?
Then, recognize why their actions have been so crippling and hurtful. Understand that and don't repeat those actions with anyone else.
And, to love your enemy doesn't mean you have to accept their actions, but instead, to love your enemy is to have compassion for them and their need to hurt in such painful ways. It is far better to promote actions that are loving and helpful than hateful and hurtful. To be generous, kind, caring, and connected trumps distance, despair, and discouragement. So, have compassion for enemies.
Don't agitate or incite your enemies' wrath, but instead give them the distance they need. If you can make amends in any way, that's even better, but when that's impossible kind distance is best.
Most of us face enemies from time to time--enemies are born out of all kinds of situations including jealousy, poor communication, ego, pride, misunderstanding, and competition. When we look deeply at the enemies we have and how those situations occurred, we can learn ways to avoid making enemies.
In general, your enemies, in many ways, are not that different than you. Most people are simply doing what they can to live their best lives, and when people or events get in the way, they act out. Some, of course, including our greatest worldwide enemies are sick people who need to be dealt with in more extreme, collective ways. That's a more grave and deep discussion for another day.