Violence is, non-violence isn’t

1035:   

One person, however strongly they feel, however charismatic they are or clever they are, will not change the wrongs of the world single handedly.  But that doesn’t mean everything one person does and believes in will not have an effect on the world they live in.  What we do might be almost invisible, but that shouldn’t affect how we act or think?  Perhaps results are not what this is all about – it might be that any statement, even the smallest, is a marker on a path towards new goals, like our no longer wanting anything to do with violence.  It’s a birth, a standing-apart from the accepted violence and routine violation, and that’s the statement each vegan is making.

By aligning with non-violence, we involve ourselves in a hard ‘birth’ and an even harder ‘upbringing’.  Because what is it?  This new way is NOT violence, but it’s not anything very definable either.  What ‘non-violence’ IS hasn’t been fully enough conceptualised yet, only what it ISN’T; it’s at that early stage of being against something, that’s all.

It’s triage, diagnosing, sorting things out, stopping the bleeding, repairing damage, preventing catastrophe, easing the pain just a little, in many different places all at once.  Like shells exploding on the battlefield, violence is everywhere.  It’s hard to find any aspect of modern day living where it isn’t present or isn’t occurring in some indirect way; the most obvious in sexual assaults and fights, the less obvious in unfriendly disapprovals and harsh tones of voice.

Each act of violence does harm. We all know how each violent gesture feels when directed against us or how it feels when we’re empathising with others who are its victims.  It’s always been here, violence in all its forms. It’s always been running through our dealings with each other, ever since we were kids.  Our parents and ancestors have known it too.  Future generation will know it just as well, unless each of us, in our own small way, starts to treat the wound and begin the slow healing process. 

By treating others, family, friends, strangers with the same level of respect as we show to those we love, we make a start.  And this doesn’t stop with humans.  Vegans are trying to show that that same level of respect can be shown to animals.  There’s no reason to not consider moving towards vegan principle in our dealings with food or people.