Need For Non-violent and Peaceful Ways to American Way of Living

In this post, let us look into reasons why U.S. need to make ‘adjustments’ in some cases where it would lead the country to far better state than where it might be heading from the present. The nation got giants of persons working on its land in the past as well as present. But the way things have shaped up, the country has reached a state where its great soul is bleeding and crying at some of the existing state of affairs. The nation needs to define what it stands for or the nation needs to define its ‘soul’ and make structural changes in line with it. It is the tall men of highest order who leaves an imprint on the national canvas and it is the people who need to hang on to that impression. It doesn’t make any sense if there is work going on in one way and the nation goes in other way. There are no foreign objects but objects which work within the boundaries to redefine the existing principles for the better. 

For someone who has come from India, we had the father of the nation christened as ‘Mahatma’ or the great soul. India, for long, bathes in his aura, image and principles. He became a great soul by virtue of his relentless dedication to national pursuit, set in the backdrop of most noble virtues. Gandhi has certainly given a clout of a divine soul to India and a new direction since Independence. India has plummeted to take a plunge in these radiant waters to rechristen itself into a progressive modern day democracy taking baby steps in the footsteps of a towering guide. The first and foremost principle among the tenets he stood by is Non-violence and peace. Coming from India, I carry those very virtues and try to make an imprint on U.S. Let us delve on the virtues of peace and non-violence set in the U.S backdrop in accordance with what the great men from India stood for. If you want a Gandhi working on a U.S. canvas, the first and foremost tenet has to be abided. There is a great necessity for a Gandhi in U.S., for a soul transformation of U.S. and for U.S. to hang onto the foremost virtues of peace and non-violence.

U.S. has many an eminent men from India working within it. The exchanges made with these men needs to be imbibed within its national life. The ‘soul’ of the United States is a complex and multifaceted concept, representing the essence of its identity, values, and aspirations as a nation. Among all the values it stood for, there is a huge requirement to prioritize non-violence as the foremost virtue defining the soul of U.S. I would make a case in this post on the urgent need to define the future of the country on the premise of peace. The U.S. has the highest rates of gun violence in the world and the most frightening battle-ready defense establishment in the world. The internal state of affairs is violent and the external missions are undertaken through violent means as well. How the U.S. can mend from 100% violent nation to the most peaceful nation on earth will tell how much work is left to be done filling the huge vacuum. The country reached this point of disturbing violence which is ingrained deep within its soul and society. The need to cleanse the soul and make momentous adjustments which are fit for the time will prevent a future war, a future recurring incidents of gun violence, a future world war and a future internal civil war. The country which is destined for any of these needs to be changed to take up the golden virtues of non-violence and peace. The country which evolved on the bedrock of a major civil war need to make amends to the way people deal with each other. The importance of trust, love and compassion while living in a peaceful, amicable way needs to be ingrained deep with the veins of the civic body.

 

The average mass shootings in U.S. over the last three years is 650 per year, which indicates an average 2 mass shootings per day across the U.S. This is recorded for three straight years and this year we have 418 mass shootings while we are just 210 days into the year. How can we stop the 418 reach over 650 over the next five months and how can a definite incident be prevented. The horrific trajectory of gun violence in the nation can be easily extrapolated based on the concrete data of the recent past. Unless some drastic change happens or the people gives up firearms voluntarily or there is a ban on these firearms overnight, there is little to no stopping of this gun violence. It is defined a mass shooting when four or more people are involved. There is no count of all the other lesser acts of violence perpetrated through these needless guns. There are thousands of them – more than 11000 this year. Next can be anyone, unless prevented and put a full stop to this violence. The need for soul-searching, soul-cleansing and soulful transformation towards a peaceful living cannot be overstated in American context, given how people have evolved to be trigger happy. There is a need for nonviolence in thought, word, and deed. We need to believe in nonviolence in every aspect of life and encourage people to practice nonviolence not only in their actions but also in their thoughts and speech. The advocacy for love and compassion as essential components of nonviolent resistance is required. We need to believe that understanding and empathy towards opponents could help in resolving conflicts peacefully.

 

While this is the case for deep-rooted internal violence, the violence U.S. perpetrates externally is also deeply rooted within its framework. The U.S. believes in strong defense mechanism by investing astronomically high amounts in defense spending. With a military budget of $858 billion dollars which is more than the next 10 countries combined, there is no need to dig more into the ways and means of this country. There is a huge weaponization of the world happening under the aegis of this country. It is frightening to look at the relegation of peace to the lowest strata and out from the U.S. policy dictionary. The U.S. has a robust military-industrial complex, which can perpetuate violence through the pursuit of profit. Reducing reliance on military solutions and investing in peaceful conflict resolution strategies is essential. When you get into a flow, you think the flow is true without the need for anything else. The violent means is the flow and the sailing of this nation in those waters by all the advance means without getting out is the unfortunate outcome. For instance, the U.S. has given $47 billion dollar worth of military weapons to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia. The second best country is Germany which provided a meagre 9 billion dollar worth of weapons. If Ukraine is staying afloat against the mighty Russia, it is thanks to U.S. and its ‘largesse’ in perpetrating, continuing and prolonging the war for the last 17 months. It is very much required but U.S. must transcend from the role of ‘weapons provider’ to the world and invest its resources in peaceful resolution of conflicts. The veterans of U.S. war are celebrated across the U.S. cities and there are veterans museums everywhere across the land, signifying the importance U.S. attaches to wars of small and large proportions. The nation must change its outlook for war and someone who dropped two atom bombs, it is highly imperative to turn this inherent ‘culture’ of violence into a calm, soothing internal peace to radiate the same externally.

 

We are looking for this culture change, policy change, ideological change, change in priorities from bottom up to bring a sea change in the violence the nation is perpetrating upon itself and on the world, for the vacuum for peace in U.S. is as big as pacific ocean. Let us fill this vacuum with our work and change the country and the world for the better. This will usher in the soulful awakening and soulful living after the deeply embedded stains are cleansed from the moral conscience of the nation.