Welcome to 2015.
The close of 2014 saw some terrible things occur in this country.
Those of us who spoke up for the right to be able to defend ourselves and others against the aggression of violent bullies and criminals where once more shouted down & ridiculed by the main stream media.
I am sharing this piece by Mohandas Gandhi to stimulate a more thoughtful discussion about self defense & the use of violence.
I think we do all agree on this:
To deliberately give or even risk your life in order to save another is undisputed bravery.
Self-defence by Violence
I have been repeating over and over again that he who
cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honour by
non-violently facing death may and ought to do so by violently dealing
with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden. He has
no business to be the head of a family. He must either hide himself, or
must rest content to live for ever in helplessness and be prepared to
crawl like a worm at the bidding of a bully.
The strength to kill is not essential for self-defence; one ought to have the strength to die. When a man is fully ready to die, he will not even desire to offer violence. Indeed, I may put it down as a self-evident proposition that the desire to kill is in inverse proportion to the desire to die. And history is replete with instances of men who, by dying with courage and compassion on their lips, converted the hearts of their violent opponents.
Nonviolence cannot be taught to a person who fears to die and has no
power of resistance. A helpless mouse is not nonviolent because he is
always eaten by pussy. He would gladly eat the murderess if he could,
but he ever tries to flee from her. We do not call him a coward, because
he is made by nature to behave no better than he does.
But a man who, when faced by danger, behaves like a mouse, is rightly
called a coward. He harbors violence and hatred in his heart and would
kill his enemy if he could without hurting himself. He is a stranger to
nonviolence. All sermonizing on it will be lost on him. Bravery is
foreign to his nature.
Before he can understand nonviolence, he has to
be taught to stand his ground and even suffer death, in the attempt to
defend himself against the aggressor who bids fair to overwhelm him. To
do otherwise would be to confirm his cowardice and take him further away
from nonviolence.
Whilst I may not actually help anyone to retaliate, I must not let a
coward seek shelter behind nonviolence so-called. Not knowing the stuff
of which nonviolence is made, many have honestly believed that running
away from danger every time was a virtue compared to offering
resistance, especially when it was fraught with danger to one's life. As
a teacher of nonviolence I must, so far as it is possible for me, guard
against such an unmanly belief.
Self-defence....is the only honourable course where there is unreadiness for self-immolation.
Though violence is not lawful, when it is offered in self-defence or for
the defence of the defenceless, it is an act of bravery far better than
cowardly submission. The latter befits neither man nor woman. Under
violence, there are many stages and varieties of bravery. Every man must
judge this for himself. No other person can or has the right.
Source: http://www.mkgandhi.org/nonviolence/phil8.htm
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