Thursday, September 13, 2007
On Saying No To Violence
September seems to be a reflective month
- as many ponder the thoughtless acts of some
while mourning and remembering others.
Victims of violence abound, throughout the globe
- Brigitte Serre and Sébastien Lacasse
were remembered in one part of the world
on the 9th of this month
during a March For Peace event...
All across the planet,
the victims of 9/11 were also evoked
as calls for peace, anti-war and
anti-terrorism rallyes united many
- all who have had enough...
It is always good to see all sorts of people
congregating to these type of events
proudly manifesting that they condemn
all forms of violence
- and this even if they are buff and beefy,
big guys who could be mistaken for
thoughtless and uncaring brutes...!
The majority though are indeed women
- mothers, spouses, close kins -
tired of losing sons, daughters, husbands,
fathers, brothers, sisters
to the senseless violence pervading
our society, our urban landscape,
our entire blamed world...
I too have to confess this:
I have often had violent urges!
Yes - we all do, at one time or another.
In the face of adversity,
whatever the source of conflict may be,
our blood boils sometimes,
our fists become tightly clenched
and no other resolution appears
as right and as final
as also as satisfying
than giving in to our most basic
and debasing primal urges...
We all have the belligerent
slumbering within us...
Awaiting but the tiniest
and flimsiest excuse
to come to the fore.
And, in an instant, we go from
civilized human beings
to a brutal bloodthirsty mob.
If such is truly our true nature,
then we must fight it at all costs.
Nothing is ever resolved
with violence.
Even justified resentment does no good.
All it does is hold us back ever further.
And the acts perpetrated by some -
such as the petty criminals who take lives
with cause, rhyme or reason ;
or the countless who perish due
to unnecessary wars or acts of war -
those acts will never create the change
sought for by their perpetrators.
The foolhardy one who hopes to better his situation by committing a crime to access short-term riches; snuffing out the life of the only witness that could identify him in the process, in hopes of never being caught... He is the most deluded fool there could ever be - and his delusion is murderous; the worst that it could be...
The street-smart thoughtless ones, whose warped view of "respect" leads to bloodbaths and beatdowns that also will end lives prematurely and just as senselessly - they will simply be doomed to die by the same sword one day; and the "respect" they thought they had garnered will hit them as hollow and meaningless...
For they never knew the true meaning of the word...
GOD Gave us Life -
and it is for us to respect it.
TO SEE GOD IN EVERYONE
AND EVERYTHING
THAT IS PART OF HIS CREATION.
It is so hard to do, I concur -
even I cannot do it, oftentimes...
IT IS THE GOAL, NONETHELESS!
Verily, only GOD Can Help us out here
- to enable us to see as we should see.
Only then will we be able to
stop the hate, stop the discrimination,
stop the wars against our neighbors,
stop the violence.
+++
- as many ponder the thoughtless acts of some
while mourning and remembering others.
Victims of violence abound, throughout the globe
- Brigitte Serre and Sébastien Lacasse
were remembered in one part of the world
on the 9th of this month
during a March For Peace event...
All across the planet,
the victims of 9/11 were also evoked
as calls for peace, anti-war and
anti-terrorism rallyes united many
- all who have had enough...
It is always good to see all sorts of people
congregating to these type of events
proudly manifesting that they condemn
all forms of violence
- and this even if they are buff and beefy,
big guys who could be mistaken for
thoughtless and uncaring brutes...!
The majority though are indeed women
- mothers, spouses, close kins -
tired of losing sons, daughters, husbands,
fathers, brothers, sisters
to the senseless violence pervading
our society, our urban landscape,
our entire blamed world...
I too have to confess this:
I have often had violent urges!
Yes - we all do, at one time or another.
In the face of adversity,
whatever the source of conflict may be,
our blood boils sometimes,
our fists become tightly clenched
and no other resolution appears
as right and as final
as also as satisfying
than giving in to our most basic
and debasing primal urges...
We all have the belligerent
slumbering within us...
Awaiting but the tiniest
and flimsiest excuse
to come to the fore.
And, in an instant, we go from
civilized human beings
to a brutal bloodthirsty mob.
If such is truly our true nature,
then we must fight it at all costs.
Nothing is ever resolved
with violence.
Even justified resentment does no good.
All it does is hold us back ever further.
And the acts perpetrated by some -
such as the petty criminals who take lives
with cause, rhyme or reason ;
or the countless who perish due
to unnecessary wars or acts of war -
those acts will never create the change
sought for by their perpetrators.
The foolhardy one who hopes to better his situation by committing a crime to access short-term riches; snuffing out the life of the only witness that could identify him in the process, in hopes of never being caught... He is the most deluded fool there could ever be - and his delusion is murderous; the worst that it could be...
The street-smart thoughtless ones, whose warped view of "respect" leads to bloodbaths and beatdowns that also will end lives prematurely and just as senselessly - they will simply be doomed to die by the same sword one day; and the "respect" they thought they had garnered will hit them as hollow and meaningless...
For they never knew the true meaning of the word...
GOD Gave us Life -
and it is for us to respect it.
TO SEE GOD IN EVERYONE
AND EVERYTHING
THAT IS PART OF HIS CREATION.
It is so hard to do, I concur -
even I cannot do it, oftentimes...
IT IS THE GOAL, NONETHELESS!
Verily, only GOD Can Help us out here
- to enable us to see as we should see.
Only then will we be able to
stop the hate, stop the discrimination,
stop the wars against our neighbors,
stop the violence.
+++
Labels: anti-violence, anti-war, peace not war
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