I want to be a pacifist. I see the damage that violence does in so many contexts--families and nations through history. I see the power of peaceful resistance in India under Gandhi and in the United States under MLK.
This type of movement really brings redemption, as the oppressed leads the oppressor to a change of heart. Of course this is the way the moral arc of the universe should go. People rise to more noble treatment of fellow humans.
So nonviolence is always the answer. Even if you lose in short run--like being put in jail, or beaten up--your cause will ultimately prevail. Or at least it ought to. You can take solace in knowing that you did the right thing.
It all sounds so right, so high-minded, so moral.
But. But if someone threatens an innocent person, and I have the opportunity to use appropriate violence to stop it, I think I will.
So, I guess I'm not really a pacifist. But why does the violence of war have to rule the world? Or does it really rule the world?
