Whose violence is worse
They argued
The insane asylum patience
Condemning barbarism
As the strongest barbarians
Write history
And write makes right
Or sow it might
As cartoonish caricatures
Capture humanities
A tension
Leaving those under
Lying causes
Uniformly camouflaged
Amid academic renditions
In citing violence
Abel to question
God and neighbor
And a religion that means
Peace
For know One
Con fronting
The insanity
Of necessary evil
This poem, universally condemning violence, was inspired in the wake of the murders of 12 cartoonists and journalists in France. The perpetrators of this violence were apparently Islamic extremists, in contrast to other extremists such as those perpetrating violence in a secular, Christian, Hindu, or Jewish variety. Violence is an evil to be rejected. Violence should be rejected whether it is a lone assailant or with the official sponsorship of some nation-state or religious sect. Still, there is a special place in hell reserved for those who sponsor hell-on-earth by heaping violence upon violence in some official capacity. If you believe that violence is a moral imperative, or in some amoral way necessary, I would suggest exploring a bigger God or worldview. Perpetrators of violence are self-fulfilling prophets. If we don’t transcend the notion that violence is necessary, we will be rewarded with the perpetual struggle to dominate one another. We are all recovering from the effects of violence. This experience of hurt and loss feeds a reciprocal response with violence. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is a powerful law of both physics and metaphysics. This law should not be taken flippantly; just look at the havoc perpetuating itself through the action of this law! However, while this law has profound ramifications on human life, a palpable sign of the divine order of the created universe, humans are not bound only by this law. Human free will, moral agency, can choose other options besides tit for tat. Free will is a supernatural aspect of reality in the sense that it transcends mere physics; it adds stuff to the mix of nature and its rolling out of the cause and effect world. As Gandhi so profoundly put forth, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Of course, you don’t “have to” be nonviolent, just as you don’t “have to” be violent. This may be the most profoundly beautiful aspects of human life, that each of us get to add our chosen reality to the mix of our shared reality. And these choices will echo in eternity.
