Peace
Peace is a noble sentiment. So noble it shouldn’t be sought after in a glib manner. So desirable it shouldn’t be invoked merely to restrain the injured party from taking up arms after every other path towards getting justice has been exhausted. So often, that which we call “violence” is retribution in a physical form in response to abuses far more damaging to the soul than a physical blow could ever render. In Braveheart, William Wallace says “They can take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom”. There are many instances of us putting values such as love, freedom, pride above life itself. So why do we have a moral and legal system that does not?
The actual causes of violence trace to a clash of values (intolerance), self-righteousness in all its forms (arrogance), the desire to dominate and control; oppression (fear, selfishness, self-importance).
You will know a violent nation by its society and ultimately by the behavior of its people. It’s collective values. When you witness social aggression between people, when you see its idols and how they behave, when you see how it Actually values modesty, humility, and non-judgmentalism. When you see its judgmentalism.
War doesn’t begin out of thin air. A nation chooses its leaders, based on its values. It sanctions war, even if later it distances itself from it. The only way to end war — is not by a last-minute plea to call off the dogs once tension has led to a boiling point. It is well before. It is to create a culture in society and an awareness at the individual level that sees ALL violence as unacceptable - social violence, verbal violence.
We reshape ourselves, we have a chance to reshape the outcomes of our collective behavior. That work is one of the highest and most noble objectives I can think of - and something that is a very daunting and improbable task. There are many forces that want us to be confused, disoriented, have a misplaced sense of priorities, and ultimately warlike since it serves some other interests. We see how people responsible for spreading the word of Love and Peace - such as clergy, cope in a system that ensures that only the most domineering, political types get ahead and we have the irony of a self-righteous, arrogant person who uses verbal and social violence to get his way preaching the “gospel of peace”. To say that we have our work cut out is an understatement.
