Are we a truly more violent nation or are we just hearing more about it due to the expansion of media possibilities? Is it just us or are all humans’ violent in nature? I think it is in the nature of man to be violent.
Why is this so? When a condition evolves in any species, it usually in some manner protects us from destruction. Early humans had to learn to defend themselves from powerful animals like lions, tigers and bears. They also had to protect themselves and their relatives from attacks by other humans during times of food shortages. Therefore, man has had the ability and willingness to attack each other from the beginning.
Today, men and women become violent for the wrong reasons. Our violence does not come from a need to defend ourselves. Usually it is the result of greed or arrogance. People kill to gain money, or they kill when they feel they are not being respected.
How often do you hear a killer argue that the victim had “disrespected” him? How often do you hear that someone died during an armed robbery? How many people die because someone felt that he had a right to impose his religious beliefs on the world?
Fort Hood happened because of religious arrogance. Columbine happened because several students felt they had been disrespected. Criminal gangs in big northern cities killed hundreds in disputes over money.
As I write this, we are waiting to hear the motive for the Washington Nava Yard killings I suspect that arrogance will be the final reason. The killer was said to have lost his active duty Naval job, and was likely seeking revenge.
All of this happens when people ignore Jesus’ teachings about love. You see, love and hatred are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have both. Those who truly have God given love cannot hate. And those who reject God cannot love. That is why Jesus taught us to love each other, and to love our enemies.
The reason we have so much hatred and violence today is because we are not being taught to have love in our lives. We desperately need the lessons of love taught in our schools, our media, and especially our homes. Only love, God’s love, can overcome the hatred and violence in our world today.
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His e-mail address is frank@frankgillispie.com. His website can be accessed at http://www.frankgillispie.com/gillispieonline.
Really? That is just complete nonsense!
Stick to telling your childhood stories, old man. The words of hypocrites talking about God falls on deaf ears with me.
Nonsense.
Dalai Lama.
That makes no sense; if it's the same coin, it's one thing and, therefore, both. Anthropologically and biologically, humans have been endowed with both and both have been useful for survival. Curiously, aggression in a species is indicative of the converse ability to 'love' or have a positive relationship of individuals to other individuals in a species. Those species, like sheep, that are not generally aggressive also form no relationships with individuals within the group; the herd is all that matters. On the other hand, wolves are highly aggressive even with one another, but they also individually form intensely loyal relationships with individuals in the pack. This is nothing more than how all living things evolved.
The point is that we, as the most highly evolved animals, must recognize our dual capacity and use it to benefit ourselves and our society, whether our neighborhood or the entire world. One does not need to be religious to do that, just aware and in control. If religion can teach that, then that's good, but teaching can happen in all kinds of ways, at school, at home, through organizations, in counseling and even just reading books and keenly observing life.
I feel Frank's frustration with the senseless violence happening. When people feel they have no control in the world and can't seem to get what they think they need, they simply release their aggression in desperation instead of continuing to figure out new ways to get what they want. Essentially, they are dim-witted, lazy and selfish, unsuited to live in a crowded world where we all have to make constant concessions in order to live peaceably, therefore prosperously, side by side.