Humanity's Violent Inhumanity

God:

There is so much violence in this place you have created that we call Earth.  It exists all through the life forms and food chain, from the simplest creatures through the complexity of human beings.  Yet in no instance is the violence so wanton, so random, and so outright cruel as violence perpetrated by humans, mainly to each other.  And we manage to do it in such myriad ways.  We, who are supposedly the most rationally intelligent of all the species.

Wars are fought for seemingly unexplainable reasons.  Mind-numbing genocide kills upwards of millions of people in an attempt to wipe out a whole section of humankind.  Innocent young girls are bombed as they attended Sunday School simply because they were Black. Young children are shot in their seats, in the school classroom intended to nurture their future.  Adults in a Bible study group are killed in a church that epitomizes the historical experience of African-Americans.  We shoot innocent bystanders for no apparent reason as a blood sport.  We kill or maim family members or loved ones out of our own inexplicable hurt.  We mortally wound a person’s self-esteem by an angry word or expression of disappointment – mental and emotional violence as deadly as the physical.  We bully impressionable children and vulnerable teenagers because they may be different, scarring them for life and perhaps pushing them into their own suicide.

How do we make sense out of all of this?  In the midst of the beauty of human life, the splendor of Nature, and the miracle of the science of Creation, how does this continuing violence we expend against each other fit into the Universe’s scheme of things?  What are we to take away from all of this?

“Violence is an inherent part of being human.  It has been there from the beginning of humankind.  Each of you is born with the capacity for it, though not necessarily for the execution of it.  So any understanding starts with accepting that it exists, and it exists within each of you.  How will you manage it?

Some people look to Me to stop it.  For Me to somehow magically put an end to the desire and ability for one person to harm another.  But it is not Me striking out at one another.  It is not Me holding the knife, the gun, the weapons of death and destruction.  It is not Me that says the words and does the acts that denigrate and marginalize others.  It is you.  It is your choice about whether you will do these things.  And why you would choose to do so.  Look inward, not outward.

Is this violence abhorrent?  Yes.  Not just because of the very real physical and mental pain it creates for the victim(s), for the families, for the community.  But also because it marks the very public descent of a human being to the most base instincts of his or her Self.  A decision to walk away from giving the gift of peace and happiness to others while feeling one’s own joy, and instead choosing to give harm and destruction to another while feeling one’s own pain and suffering.  Human life is about choice, and using one’s tools and capabilities to make good choices for one’s self and the many.  The reality is that human beings are capable of making some very bad choices.  These days it seems that the choices being made are increasingly worse ones.  And they are happening more frequently.

Your earthly world can be anything you choose to make of it.  For better or for worse.  As has been said, violence begets violence, because violence comes from fear and hopelessness.  When the emotion of fear is thwarted by hopelessness, it leads to anger which creates hate, and hate generates the act of mental and/or physical violence.  Violence, then, is seen as a tool to overcome that fear and hopelessness.  For a fleeting moment, the violent have power over what s/he fears.  Hope is rekindled – even if but for an instant.  As long as you allow, if not endorse, these moments of power, of revenge, of triumph, the violence will continue.

So ask yourself, what makes a person feel fear and hopelessness?  What makes a person susceptible to the force of hated?  Where, and from whom, does one learn to hate?  What makes a person then choose to perform the violence that flows from hatred?

The violence begins to stop when you choose to stop it.  As an individual; as a collective society.  When you take away the tools of violence from the fearful and hopeless.  When you do everything possible to protect the vulnerable.  When everyone who deplores violence actually does something to help prevent it.  By making their words heard, and speaking and standing in opposition to hate and violence, in the home and public square.  And truly means it and acts it.

Right now, you say that such violence is unacceptable.  Yet you do in fact accept it by your actions.  You talk about the equality of all persons, but continue to treat each other unequally.  You talk about the Brotherhood of Man and the Sisterhood of Women, but you do not welcome all into your family.  You talk about doors of opportunity, but then shut them to those seeking to enter.  You talk about unity but foster separation, and shrug your shoulders at unfairness.  Many of your ministers, politicians, leaders and their followers, preach anger and hatred toward each other on a daily basis.  What else would you expect to result from this continual dissension and turmoil besides violence towards each other?

You can imprison the offender after the fact.  Or you can remove the need to offend.  Ending your violence will not come from some divine intervention.  It will end when your ill-treatment towards each other ends.  When you take a truly honest look at your thinking and actions instead of your words.  It ends when the violence of negative thoughts and indifferent actions within your heart dies.  When you collectively stand and say loudly, “ENOUGH” – and mean it.  When you demand it of those who pretend to be your leaders – and demand it of yourself instead of hiding behind “it’s not me.”  When you open the doors of your home and welcome all to come inside and be your guests.  And when you leave the familiar comfort of your home to be their guests.

This is not wishy-washy, squishy-softy stuff.  Accepting all others with equal fairness, and removing fear and hopelessness, is one of the hardest challenges you will face in your lifetime.  As a person.  As a society.  As a community of human friends.  Good luck in meeting that challenge – if you are truly willing and able.  It is your Choice.”

©  2105   Randy Bell                www.ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com