Feuds between relatives ruin my faith in humanity

If close people hate each other, how can there ever be peace on Earth?

If I look at the feuds in my larger family, I often ask myself — is it always this fucked up, or is my family special?

I’m not going to air my family’s “dirty laundry.” Well, I’ll mention a few things.

My mom and mother-in-law hate each other. Nothing triggered this loathing. They just do. They spend years without intersecting but hate each other like they’re living in the same house. My wife and I have to focus on making sure that their paths never cross and my Mom never misses an opportunity to remind me that she doesn’t want to see my wife’s mother, even when that possibility is not even on the horizon (they are in different countries, and there are currently insurmountable visa and travel barriers).

My parents broke up after twenty years of marriage and never spoke again. Never. My Mom was madly in love with my Dad. Then he left. She was in agony for many months. Suicidal. She healed over time, and then she hated it. She still does. She rebuilt her life, but the profound contempt remains. I had to manage my life’s most precious moments, like the wedding and the birth of our kids, in a way that wouldn’t put my parents anywhere near each other, even if accidentally.

My father and uncle went through multiple marriages, relationships, and affairs. I’m not judging how their marriages or relationships didn’t last. In fact, some lasted for a fairly long time…