Introduction

Is violence really part of human nature? If they are, are we doomed as a species, to endless pain and suffering, to endless violence, endless retributions and endless wars? How about the other forms of violence, like economic, sexual, generational, religious, racial, psychological, etc.? And what about discrimination?

Isn’t there a sort of violence somewhere, when one billion children are going hungry everyday – when 40,000 of them die each day from hunger? Isn’t there violence present when women are being treated as second class citizens in almost all societies? Isn’t there violence somewhere when young people are tried as adults under laws that they did not have the privilege of voting for? Isn’t there violence somewhere when beliefs and “irrefutable” truths are imposed on others? Isn’t there some violence somewhere when one is discriminated against, because of one’s race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation? Isn’t there violence somewhere when whole peoples are threatened and terrorized with nuclear annihilation?

What drives people to take revenge? Why is it that up to now, some “advanced” societies still have institutionalized vengeance in the form of harsh punishments – like the death penalty? Why is it that there are more than two million people – most of them minorities – in American prisons? That is just a little less than the total populations of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose combined!

So, are these issues problems that could be resolved? Or are they intrinsic to human nature?

Or, could it be possible that nonviolence is what is inherent in the human being? Have you seen a violent toddler lately?

Best regards…

Godi

I think forgiveness, acceptance, tolerance, even love are harder for most people to experience, to allow themselves to pass through. So they go to vengeance, hatred, anger and fear because they come much easier.