The Real Battle

“The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts. And that is where all our battles ought to be fought. So, what kind of warrior have you been in that warfare? Not a very good one. That’s why I have so much tolerance for the other scoundrels of the world.” Gandhi (the film)

If we define war as the struggle between different forces in which each is seeking to prevail, then we are at war today, as we have been for thousands of years.

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Gandhi (the film)

This war, or struggle, is between love, compassion, and humanity versus fear, hatred, and violence. The battle is between being civilized and being primitively impulsive. The fight is between bigotry and a deep understanding of each person’s ways and cultures.

When there is a confrontation between hate and hate, there is really just one force growing in us, and that is hate. When we have violence against violence, there is only violence increasing.

It may seem as if there were a fight between different parties, but if we look at it from the perspective of people’s motivations, we can see that it is fear with fear, anger with anger, hatred with hatred.

The real war, the real fight and struggle, is to be able to keep our sanity, our compassion, and our love as we make what at times can be very difficult decisions to confront those who hate, suppress, and want to destroy. But we need to be very careful that we don’t become like those we condemn.

Someone who is called a terrorist or dissident in one country is called a hero in another. Is one right and not the other?

I bet if we look at many countries on this planet we can find atrocities committed against not only violent factions, but also against civilians who were “side effect” casualties of their conflicts.

I don’t say the above to justify anyone’s actions. Violence is what needs to be condemned, with its close companions: ignorance, hatred, and racism. We are all human; we all live on this home we call earth. Our distinctions of country, language, religion, politics, color of skin, and social and economic status, ideally, would be only labels placed on a condition, not a value judgement on the worthiness of anyone.

If more of us look at other people with compassion and seek understanding, the world will be a better place. If some of our corporations and politicians looked further than their own personal profit and benefit, the world would work very differently.

“I was made, by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscience.” Nelson Mandela (statement during trial, 1962)

If you think this is a very lofty ideal, look at the examples of Vaclav Havel, Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi. Look at the history of the United States and its founding fathers. All of them, against all odds, fought for different principles. Among them were love, compassion, liberty, and each person’s right to pursue their own happiness and to own the product of their effort.

What if all of them had done nothing because the ideal seemed difficult to achieve?

Their battle is still going on; it wasn’t over with their successes. It is a fight that each generation needs to embrace and endure, in every country.

“All important events in the real world are always spearheaded in the realm of words.” Vaclav Havel

If we let this struggle be fought only by those in power, we are avoiding our responsibility to create our ideal world.

And yes, even if we do the above, we will still have haters and violent people. We will still have people killing with guns, while others do so wearing suits and signing corporate and political contracts. We will still have people stealing and destroying while giving speeches in the halls of government, as if they were the heroes we need to save us (often from them).

In summary, the war, the struggle of being better people, is in all of us. We need to be strong especially when we are attacked and want to respond with hatred and blame.

Remember, we have all participated in creating the world in which we live. If you believe you are guiltless, then you are like the other side, blaming this side for their problems.

“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert.” Martin Luther King Jr., “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story”

We are one family, one people. We are all brothers and sisters, even if some are violent. Their violence needs to be dealt with, but not with violence. Let’s not use peace to justify inhumane behaviors.

Only we, within ourselves, know if fear is running us, if hatred and bigotry have taken over our heads and actions.

Only we know if we truly want to embrace all others, even when we make hard decisions to stop the destruction.

This struggle is in all of us.