Had a great discussion at book club tonight about nonviolent communication (language,) nonviolence as a cultural alternative, the prospects for empathy, kindness, compassion for creating a better world.
I also described a movie that I saw in fourth grade. In the movie it rained all the time, except for a two hour window every year. The two hour window was known well in advance, and in the movie, which was set in an elementary school, all the students and teachers were very excited and looking forward to the annual two hours of sunshine (because in the film, all the flowers would bloom in that very short window.)
When the day came, some mean students locked up one of their peers in a closet, so that she was unable to venture outside and run in the sunshine through fields of flowers.
I felt very sad for the poor child, a victim of bullying. I wonder how other people interpreted the film. Maybe that it is better to be strong than weak, better to be a bully than to risk being bullied?...
Personally, I think the path to peace is through trust, honesty, openness, truth, and vulnerability...
There are so many reasons to believe in the transformative power of love and compassion, and cooperation - rather than fear, hate, and violence, and domination...
The following is an interview with Chalmers Johnson that mentions how U.S. military generals get treated like royalty: