Violence vs. Non Violence

By: Natasha Robson

Non-Violence

Gandhi, He was a man of peace. He was a man known for helping the people of India have freedom from the British. He was a man that didn’t fight with weapons. He replaced anger and hurt with non-violence. Eventually he led his country to peace and freedom through Non-Violence. Many people have their own interpretation of what Non-Violence means. But the truth is that there really isn’t one specific definition about what Non-Violence is. In an article I read it says that Gandhi taught about Satyagraha. He said “Evil can be overcome with Satyagraha.” “Satya meaning truth which equals love. Graha which means force. All together it means Truth force or Love force.” Today the meaning of what Gandhi taught is Non-Violence. Gandhi and Martian Luther King Jr. used non-violence in worldwide situations to help people as a whole get what they needed, but I don’t think that Non-Violence should just be used in World Situations. I know that we can use Non-Violence in our everyday lives to help us be the best person possible.

On August 28,1963 in Washington Martian Luther King Jr. gave a speech to his people saying that he had a dream of Equality between African Americans and White people. The speech he gave led his country to that peace and Equality that he dreamed for his people. But the speech its self didn’t magically just let his people have the same rights as everyone else. His people had to fight to. King saw Gandhi as a role model. The way that Gandhi led his people in India to freedom by using Non-Violent Communication. In the document “Active Nonviolence: A Way of Life” it says that Martian discovered the power of Gandhi’s insights in the civil rights struggle.” Martian took Gandhi’s example and told his people to not fight back when they were hurt, pushed around, and treated badly. His people followed his advice and the number of killings went down. His people didn’t hurt anyone. They acted from non-violence and the situation that they were in got better. This worked for Martian Luther King Jr. and his people. Using Non-Violence to stop a situation from getting out of hand can also help your personal life and things that happen in your own life from getting out of hand. In the past when I got mad I tended to go all out. I don’t hold anything out and that didn’t help me at all. I would end up hurting the people around me and I would end up regretting it later on. Then I learned about non-violent ways to deal with that anger. I leaned that talking was the most helpful. Keeping feelings inside you just helps those feeling to keep rising, and if they keep rising then one day you will explode with everything that you held in. Another non-Violent technique that I learned was a technique called “tapping.” Tapping is when you tap on your pressure points on your face and body and say positive affirmations about your self and the problems in your life. I would say things like “even though my friend hurt my feelings, I fully and truly accept myself.” And it helped me to calm down and to be happy again and to not let the situation that I was in to not turn into a huge situation.

Non- Violence is the best way because it keeps a situation from lasting a long period of time. Charles Fillmore was the founder of Unity Church along with his wife Myrtle. Charles Fillmore didn’t grow up rich. His father left him, his little brother, and his mom when he was young and they had to make their own food, get their own water and he and his brother had to work to keep themselves alive. But Charles never complained about his situation. He looked at it as a learning opportunity and he grew stronger from his disadvantaged. When Charles was older he moved to Kansas City with his newly wed wife Myrtle. In Kansas Charles started his own business as a Real Estate Agent of his own company. Things were going good but after a while his business crashed and he was left with nothing. In this situation Charles had two choices; he could either get very mad or start something to express his anger in a harmful way for people around him. But he chose to meditate for help from gad along his path. He kept looking for ways to make more money. He didn’t just sit there preying that a miracle would happen. He went out and did something about his current situation, and in time he got more money and he was able to do the things that he wanted to do, like support his family and move to a different place. If Charles had just sat on his couch and just wished for a miracle without doing anything for himself then his situation would have lasted for a much longer time then he wanted. When something bad happens to me my first reaction is to feel really sorry for myself. Feeling sorry for myself makes me feel better for a little bit better but in time I end up feeling bad about what happened to me all over again. So instead of feeling sorry for my self and watching TV and eating marshmallow cream from the jar all day long I do something for a change. I maybe go and get my hair done, or dye my hair a different color or things like that. Then I go and I like to be active. I go and hang out with my closest friends and tell them what is bothering me. By doing this I am not letting the situation that I am over power my life and last for a long period. By doing these things I am dealing with my problems in a Non-Violent way.

Non-Violence is better because it is a more permanent situation. When Gandhi first decided to help the people in India he knew that there would be a lot of road block in the way. But that didn’t stop him. For doing what he did India is now free. They don’t have the British breathing down their necks and telling them what to do all of the time. They don’t have to sell British goods, and they don’t have to follow British orders anymore. To this day India is still free. They are allowed to believe in whatever they want to believe in and they are happy. Of course there may still be things wrong with the government system in India but they aren’t having wars with another country. When Hitler decided to run Germany with his violent techniques it back fired on him. After his plan died of ruling the world ended. He didn’t know what else to do and many, many people hated him, and that led to his death. Hitler shot himself on April 30, 1945. His ruling over Germany didn’t last. His people moved on and they did not continue to kill Jewish people like Hitler had wanted. When I want to get over something in my life, or when I want to start something I always look to the positive side of things. Last summer I wanted to go to this international Unity conference so badly. The only thing that was holding me back was the competition. I wanted to get a scholarship to go to it. I had to write an essay telling about everything I had learned about Unity principles and Non-Violence and how I used these techniques in my life. The biggest problem I had with this was when I found out that one of my best friends was running against me. She knew how hard I had been working on this and I felt betrayed by her for running against me. But instead of getting up in her face about it and getting mad at her I wished her luck. After meditation and reassurance that even if I didn’t win life would move on and it wasn’t the end of the world I wished her luck from my heart. Instead of letting my anger that I had for her keep building up and controlling my life I let it go so that I could keep our friendship. Our friendship is now stronger then ever J

Non-Violence had been used by so many of our Great leaders to accomplish great things in the world. Not only is it used by our past leaders but it is being used at this very moment by citizens of the world. Monks, Christians, Unitarians, and many other religions and practices engage in non-violence to get their voice heard to. This shows that not only can non-violence be used in our world but it can also be used in our everyday lives, so that we can accomplish great things right now, and in the future. We can make a difference by using Non-Violence to change an unjust situation. Everyone has their own way of practicing non-violence.