Advanced Essay #4: A Nonviolent Society

The world we live in has vastly changed through the years. New ideas, new possibilities, new understandings of what should be done. Some may say for the better while others say for the worst. It’s all really a personal opinion on your take for how things are. This world has both good and evil co-existing to have a balance between the two. An equilibrium on a spectrum that should probably never tip to one’s favor, but through the years it always seem to fluctuate from being equal. That’s something that we all have to deal with, and I fear it’s only going to be an even bigger problem as I grow older.

In this image you have two hands. Both have blood on all of the fingers plus the thumb. This white man’s hands are held out forward as if he’s thinking about what just happened. Maybe somebody he knew just died in his hands, or he just got finished from making someone bleed from whatever he did. The possibilities are endless to what I may think happened, but only he could tell me the real story. The story behind why he now has blood on his hands, and what is going through his head at this point. Was it all a setup, was this all his plan, or is just all a misunderstanding on my part. Not everything is what is seems, but even with this glimpse of the whole picture, you would assume the worst or maybe that’s just something some people do.

We advance ourselves everyday. New ideas turn into new possibilities, which bring new promise to the world we live in. Our brains work together to show that the human mind is endless. From what we wear, to eat, to what we use everyday. Advancements in our technology make us superior to others, but also instills fear to those around it. It can be used to help or harm depending on who wields it. America embraces the idea of militarism, using it almost as a superpower. Warfare, new implications of drones to inflict massive amounts of damage, use for reconnaissance, and help to assassinate HVTs. They use the human interaction in order to pilot and ensure that with each strike they kill the intended target. A job where we have to come together for the greater good, but at whose expense for when civilians are in the radius.

Nonviolence, a new art that’s hard to master. A concept involving conquering fear, a inner peace to be reached, and willing and able to accept others. Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Park, examples of these things that can come to mind automatically. They valued nonviolence as their weapon to fight against the society they lived in. Each wanted to create a world where they would rather live in. One where you’re free. One where they no longer have to fight, but they only embraced nonviolence. They knew they couldn’t add to the fire already taking the lives of those around them, but still they had to keep the pressure for change. They evolved with the world around them to better fight, but still never breaking their promise. Maybe more need to follow in their footsteps to have a better chance at change. Maybe violence only adds more uncontrolled anger, but if able to control it, maybe there can be a new change. Just think about this, “how do we deal with extreme violence without using force in return…”

Engulfed in the way that society was created. Having the idea that you need to have both sides in order to have a “perfect society” if it even exists. Violence and nonviolence go hand and hand. Both need to exist in order for there to be a real balance. It’s like a yin-and-yang, good and evil, they co-exist for the balance to be complete in the world. Without a general balance it tips to one side and society falls off. A take over of one side whether good or evil, but usually it tips over to be more evil. Racism in America, enslavement, or just a take over of another country all categorize as the evil taking over. In their mind they may believe that they’re right, but for those underneath them now, they see them as wrong. It’s all determined by who is in power, and so with that I can’t believe we can have a society rooted in nonviolence. They need to both exist or who can say what’s right from wrong.