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TWENTYSOMETHING by Ishi Dinim
Every year I really try to commit to memory the sacrifice of those people who fought for this country. I appreciate that the times they were living in were different, but they all had families and many in my family were amongst them. What’s at the root of it all, why do we remember, what are we supposed to think about? I’m torn between feeling pride or disgust; normal people don’t want war in their lives.
When is violence OK? It seems so strange to me, a pacifist, to consider that question. Trying to contemplate when I might find it acceptable to hurt or kill another human being seems alien. Beyond self-defence I can’t imagine any “good” rationale for resorting to physical violence. Harmful behaviour takes many forms. In its most passive form it is merely benign, in its ugliest instances people end up maimed or dead. What brings a person to the point where they will figure that hurting someone else, or a group of people, is the solution to their problem?
I believe that people’s choices result from a chain of previous experiences, education or programming. These choices lead to actions or non-actions based on this chain. I may be over-simplifying how all people operate, but humour my generalization because here I’m really more interested in examining the chain, not the violent act.
There are so many times where being rough and belligerent are supported and rewarded: whether you are an athlete being encouraged to smash your opponent, a politician with a war on drugs, or a soldier with a finger on the trigger. There is no surprise in my mind that these upstanding role models fuel a rage that spills out of their socially sanctioned arenas, into other corners of social life. Why is it OK to fight on an ice rink and not on the street?
Elected officials operate with impunity, all the while telling us to follow the same set of laws they break. Why is murder acceptable on the battlefield, but not in your neighbourhood? I grapple with these double standards, this hypocrisy. Where does the bully learn to intimidate, the thug learn gangsterism, the killer learn bloodlust? I live in a world where violence is celebrated. We’re bombarded by conflicting messages. Brutality shifts from right to wrong and back again depending on arbitrary excuses: venue, gender, culture, rank, race, career, news stories, whatever. Essentially because violence is not profoundly forbidden it is acceptable. We allow it to creep into our lives and occasionally openly or secretly revel in its power.
What if we taught non-violence as a course of right living, if as a society we agreed that military was unnecessary and educated people early on to help, not to hurt? If our idea of entertainment shifted from our modern gladiators, horror films, first person shoot-em-ups. I’m not saying we need to pad every sharp corner or eliminate aggressive behaviour, but we need to know where that behaviour comes form and what it might lead to. In our own lives we need to understand our place in conflicts that arise, what part do we play in creating or preventing wars? How do we wish our future societies to develop? Where will we place our emphasis? Will we continue to try to cage violence hoping it won’t overflow onto us or can we collectively agree that it has no place any more?
Quotes:
I think the human race needs to think about killing. How much evil must we do in order to do good.
– Robert S. McNamara
I don’t believe in killing whatever the reason!
– John Lennon
Any military commander who is honest with himself, or with those he is speaking to, will admit that he has made mistakes in the application of military power. He’s killed people – unnecessarily. His own troops or other troops. Through mistakes, through errors of judgement. A hundred, or 1,000, or 10,000, maybe even 100,000. But he hasn’t destroyed nations.
– Robert S. McNamara
Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.
– John Lennon
Ishi graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2001, with a BFA major in photography. He makes films, collects cacti, and ponders many things. Currently he is trying to figure out what to do with the rest his life. contactishi@yahoo.ca waiting to hear echoes back.
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