Violence and Non-violence

This morning listening to a report on the news about the Supreme Court's recent decision blocking the execution of people who committed murder before they were 18, I realized, again, that some people honestly view and understand the world differently from the way I do. Some people interviewed insisted that there are many 17 year olds who can wreak havoc like a fully grown adult and should face the death penalty. Others thought not. None questioned whether putting people to death might so corrupt the heart and soul of a culture that it perpetuates rather than stop the crime.

The idea of murder makes my skin crawl. The idea of murdering the murderer (usually, I suspect, more cold heartedly than the murder it is punishing) takes my breath away.

The people interviewed were thoughtful. They clearly had thought through their opinions.

I have never thought I have the discipline or moral courage to be a true pacifist, to turn the other cheek in the face of attack. If I or one of my children, my wife, or maybe anyone, was being threatened, I imagine I would retaliate without considering whether my response was too severe.

But my understanding of the forces of the universe makes me think this merely keeps the circle of violence going. The pacifism of Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, all of whom died at the hands of violence, is, I suspect, the only way to keep violence from continuing. Likely one reason our species is not a candidate for a long tenure.