Violence begets violence
I don’t know who first said that, but a Google search immediately brings up dozens of pages based on that saying. The reason is that it’s true. We will not stop violence on our city streets or on the streets of Baghdad or London through a greater show of violent force. We only escalate the violence when we say, even metaphorically, that our guns are bigger than your guns.
The world will not resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through increased military aid to Israel nor by demanding that the Palestinian leaders "control" the Palestinians (through armed police forces, I presume). The world will not stop suicide bombers by threat of violent death.
The more guns and bombs we produce, the more people we will kill. The only way to reduce violence is to reduce the means of violence and to use our creative energy to confront fear, hatred, and violence in more peaceful ways. For instance, what would the Middle East be like today if the hundreds of billions of dollars spent over the past 50 years to build and use military power had instead been spent on improving the lives of the people who live there?
Many people think we cannot confront hatred and violence in the world through peaceful efforts. But would any more of our men and women die by sending them to other countries to help improve the living conditions of people living in violence-infested areas than by sending them to wage war in those same nations? And would America not gain greater respect in the world in that way?
Violence always begets violence. Revenge provokes revenge. Killing creates more killing. The cycle of fear, hatred, and violence spirals outward until we block its momentum through nonviolent, forgiving, life-giving actions.
