For two weeks now, if we watch the news, our eyes and ears have been riveted to the multiple outcomes of the latest school shooting in Parkland, Florida. As before, we review the mass shootings that preceded this one, looking for clues about why this keeps happening and what we might do to prevent another.
One TV program about church
shootings put this effort under the title “what we can do about senseless
violence.” Hearing it advertised repeatedly broke my mind open to the
definition of that term, wondering if there’s such a thing as violence that
isn’t senseless, and where to draw the line between violence and something
lesser, like petty theft.
Surely the violence in Syria right
now is as senseless as it gets, as was the violence in Viet Nam or any of the
other countries we’ve sent troops. I
have a little less trouble seeing the violence of WWII as necessary, if also
senseless on a spiritual level. Did the
world really need an Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin? Did it need Pol Pot? Did it need George Custer?
See what happens when you start
asking questions? I’m sure I’ve already
stepped on a few toes with that last name.
But I learned an interesting definition of violence from a book by Fr.
John Dear: violence is anything that
divests a person of his or her true identity as a child of God. The whole effort to eliminate the red skin
threat to white settlement as Americans (many of them recent immigrants) pushed
westward in search of free land, a place to live, certainly falls into the
category of violence. Was it
senseless? If not, was it any less
violent?
I won’t touch the rhetoric of our
current commander-in-chief. Someone
might decide to divest me of my true identity.
On a more human level, I’m wondering
about the technological advances currently ongoing in our region, everywhere
from the groves and fields to brick-and-mortar work environments where jobs are
being eliminated faster than we can count.
One particularly attractive “advancement” displayed at the farm show two
weeks ago was GUSS, “the world’s first unmanned orchard sprayer.” GUSS “removes the operator from the tractor,
thus eliminating the chance of driver exposure to the products being applied.” It also, by the way, “eliminates” operator
error and 10 minute breaks, lunchtimes, Sundays, and quite frankly, jobs. When faced with the choice of being exposed
to pesticides or not working at all, people have for years chosen exposure over
unemployment. But now they will not have
to choose.
We are a violent people. If we’re going to find ways to stop senseless
violence, we’re going to have to look at all the ways we accept violence as
necessary, even when there’s a better way.
May someone brave lead us in that direction.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trudy
Wischemann is a neophyte Quaker who writes.
Send her your suggestions for becoming a non-violent culture c/o P.O.
Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a
comment below.
No comments:
Post a Comment