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| Photo: Jeff Widener/AP. Words: F LoBuono |
When I was a kid, I played a lot of football. I loved the challenge. It was physical and it was difficult. The more physical and difficult, the better. Part of the experience, aided by the proper coaching, was learning to overcome these obstacles. A good coach reaches into your soul to aid you in your quest to find the strength to not only survive, but achieve. However, it is only effective if you believe in what they are teaching. If you don't, it becomes just so much drivel - all sound and fury, signifying nothing. I, for one, choose to believe and have taken those lessons with me through my entire life.
I believe this to be true of all inspirational messages - either you believe in them, or you don't. So, in my mind, is it the case with the commitment to non-violence. The message is clear, and it is ancient. From Confucius, to Buddha, to Christ, to Gandhi, to Martin Luther King, the WORD has been made flesh: only LOVE can conquer HATE. The path of non-violence is the only way of securing a peaceful future. However, for non-violence to actually work, you must believe it in a way that involves total commitment. A half-assed approach to the concept dooms it to failure. It can only be effective when there is strength in numbers. The way to overcome the force of evil is to overwhelm it with the power of love; a universal love that cannot be denied.
Let me give you a case in point. Virtually everyone is familiar with the iconic image of a lone man, standing against a row of tanks during the ill-fated Tiananmen Square uprising in China. One, lone, unarmed, anonymous man stared down a 40-ton war machine. His only weapons were his integrity and his conviction. To this day, no one knows that man's name or, ultimately, his fate. Many claim this shows the folly of peaceful resistance against overwhelming force. That man was obliterated. But, was he really? Is he not immortal because of his resistance? Is that image not burned into our consciousness? Can you view that photo and not be moved by his incredible courage? His identity is, in the end, not really important. His actions are. He is all of us, if we allow him to be!
Here is my point. That was one man. The message he sent with his actions cannot be ignored. However, there are many who will ask, what in the end, did he really accomplish? Has China changed? So, was he really effective? Well, here in lies the challenge. If you don't BELIEVE in what he was trying to accomplish, then it was wasted. He threw his life away. However, if you COMMIT to the cause of non-violence, as he did, without fear of the risk or consequences, we can win. Instead of just one man facing down those tanks, what would have been the outcome if it were thousands, tens of thousands, or, even millions! Would the tanks have killed millions? Could they? Would their treads have crushed people into bloody pulp? Well, at some point, you can slaughter everyone and still not win. If the world rises up to say NO to violence, what are the purveyors of death to do, kill everyone? Think about it: if people refuse to yield, refuse to be governed by evil people, if there is no consent from the masses, how can they possibly rule? But, it must be all of the people. Half-assed measures simply cannot work. Then, there will be slaughter without gain. It must be all or none.
During a discussion on this topic, someone asked me, would you stop the Nazis on the beaches of Great Briton with flowers? Well, he certainly has a point. I have enormous respect for those who gave their lives to stop the spread of this and other great evils. However, in the end, where did it ultimately get us? Yes, we are free and stopped a great evil. However, did it break the cycle of violence? Are there no more wars? Are young people around the world not being consumed by the war machine? So, in the end, what have we really gained? It's time for new thinking (even if it really is old thinking). For us to survive as a species we have to find a better way to live and resolve conflict - among ourselves as individuals, and as nations. Perhaps, if we meet evil on the beaches with flowers, millions of flowers, we can win - and win forever.
Gandhi said it best: An eye for an eye, just leaves the whole world blind. I, for one, my friends, have chosen to see another way.
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