VIOLENCE
What an odd time - Christmas Eve – to be thinking and writing about the violence which is so apparent in our lives today.
We hear a great deal about violence stalking though every nook and cranny of our environment - natural and socially evolved - and yet I sometimes wonder if we are fully aware of other than the brutal, physical aspects of the crippling scourge. Do we overlook, even totally disregard , violence of a more subtle nature done to our ideals, ideas, concepts and accomplishments?
I do not know that violence is any more pronounced in the present time than it has been in the past. Because we feel we have been inept in finding any ways to deal effectively with it, we conclude it must be more widespread than it used to be. Just a brief look back though the pages of our history will be enough to show that man has always turned to violence in seeking to equate himself with others or to place himself in the ascendancy where can rule over others.
Different groups of people see violence in different ways. The concept of the Dominant Male does violence to our entertainment ideas. A Rambo-type creature, part human, part robot, fueled with envy, greed and unrequited need- a fantasric recreation, perhaps, of the celebrated Knights of old who worked wonder is their time.. The theory of The Dominant Male has obscured much evil conduct in our time. His rule , we so often have been led to think, means that his shoulders, his guile, his stamina and his inventiveness will bring us freedom from all wrong. We make films of his deeds and urge our children to accept that as the way life is. They are not considered to be violent.
On this Christmas Eve think how trivial some violence can seem to be.. You will hear violence being done to our English Language - even during the Christmas season - when people you know seek to embellish it by inserting profane or obscene words and terms. That is violence of our heritage. You will see and hear people disparaging others by race, by creed, by land of origin and all this does violence to our the worthiness of our culture.
Look and listen to a small, warning voices. How often do we participate in continuing such “minor” violence? Is it cumulative?
People often hurt others by thoughtless acts of violence of a petty nature.. Until. we can successfully deal with these affronts of local nature, we have little chance of curbing the larger evil.
A.L.M. December 23, 2003 [c440WDS]
