Monday, January 30, 2012

Season for Non Violence Begins

Today until April 4th...64 days... is the Season for Non- violence. The 64 days are bookended by the memorial anniversaries of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Yesterday I spoke about Gandhi and his grandson's memories of his grandfather. Arun Gandhi shared those when Unity brought him to London on Jan 30th 2006 to kick off the season.

I shared Gandhi's idea of the Family Tree of Violence. The offspring in the family are physical violence and passive violence. At the end of the day review your interactions with others and see if your interactions fit under one of these two. Physical violence is where we use force. Passive violence is where we don't use force but our actions still hurt someone. This can look like oppression of others and cultural, sexual or religious prejudice for example.

Grandfather also shared that when we "throw away" a pencil for example, we are committing violence against nature. It took many natural resources to create it. And when we over consume, buy in bulk and throw away what we can't use or the many items that work but we want to update we are committing violence against humanity. Because we are over consuming there are others who don't have access to those products and this creates poverty for some.

Food for thought for the next 64 days and beyond hopefully. Visit www.agnt.org under multi media and view the Peace Mandela. When you click on the word courage you will receive quotes and inspiration for the day. Each day has a different focus.

Pic.. greenery in Naples.

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