Having acknowledged that it is impossible to assess the degree to which I might have participated in terrible atrocities had I lived in the same context in which they emerged seventy years ago, it is important to ask what commitments I might make in the present that could help ensure that my life is less inclined towards patterns of violence.
Here are ten commitments that may help to create a world in which the systematic violence of Nazism is less likely to be repeated:
1. I renounce violence in its most subtle forms and choose to nurture qualities of gentleness and respect towards all people, especially those who are most vulnerable.
2. I will question authority and encourage anyone who may come under my authority to feel free to question any decision or action I may take.
3. While I value and affirm the importance of the human collective, I will always seek to avoid any collective action that could be calculated to diminish or harm the individual.
4. I renounce “nationalism” and affirm that boundaries between countries are artificial and that, contrary to appearances, all people belong to one human family and that the most universal belonging takes precedence over any other artificial divisions within the human community.
5. I will build into my life and encourage in the lives of others the establishment of all possible supports to civilized behaviour and mutual respect for all people particularly those whose lives and customs I find strange and unfamiliar.
6. I will challenge any teaching, doctrine, or belief that portrays any group of people as necessarily a dangerous threat to my well-being.
7. I renounce all enemy-formation and refuse to view the human community as divided between friend and foe.
8. I choose to bear the pain of standing alone if the actions, attitudes, beliefs, or behaviour of any group of which I am a part violates the dictates of my conscience.
9. I determine to stand against a dominant culture that appears to devalue any person or any part of God’s creation, even if taking such a stand may seem likely to be costly.
10. I will do all in my power to resist allowing my choices to be dictated by violence, fear, insecurity, or hatred and will nurture in my life and in the lives of those with whom I come into contact, disciplines that encourage peace, boldness, inner security, and love.
Honesty demands that I acknowledge that It is never possible to know in advance how I might respond in a difficult, painful, or threatening situation. But, I can make choices today that move away from violence, prejudice and the destruction of human community and towards gentleness, openness and the nurture of respectful human relations.
Even my smallest choices are setting a direction for my life. I am either moving towards violence or peace. There are few utterly inconsequential decisions. The tone of my life is dictated by the tenor of each decision I make along the way, even when those decisions appear to relate to matters that are of minor importance.
And there are no private choices. The choices I make affect the world I inhabit. My decisions help create an environment that is moving towards death or towards life. I need to make my decisions conscious of the fact that they have an impact beyond myself.
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October 27, 2013 at 9:36 am
Anna Bowness-Park (@bownesspark)
I recently wrote a piece on forgiveness that highlighted 15 year old Malala Yousafzai’s decisions about non-violence. Her speech to the UN is very moving.
October 27, 2013 at 10:26 am
Lindsay
4. I renounce “nationalism” and affirm that boundaries between countries are artificial and that, contrary to appearances, all people belong to one human family and that the most universal belonging takes precedence over any other artificial divisions within the human community.
The one I’m struggling with the most right now is #4 … rather than renounce all “nationalism” it seems there is a place and necessity for some sort of “nationalism” to build culture, tradition and healthy relationship within community. Perhaps the problem is again one of dominant “nationalism” rather than all “nationalism”?
Perhaps it might help if I explain a bit more … If we take what happened to the Jewish people, the devastation of what happened during and in the aftermath of the Holocaust, there was a real need for Jewish people to rebuild a Jewish sense of community … as devastating as it was, the Holocaust seems to be a powerful symbol which unites the Jewish peoples … and also has given the international community a greater understanding/ empathy of why this rebirth of the Jewish nation is crucial.
Similarly here in Canada/North America today … and what’s happened to our First Nations peoples, the devastation of what happened during and in the aftermath of the residential school system and attempt to indoctrinate peoples into the dominant “Christian” culture … there is a real need for First Nations people to rebuild a First Nations sense of community … as devastating as it is, the residential school system is a also a powerful symbol which rightly ought to be giving our wider community reason to pause and evaluate.
The problem is here in Canada/North America, as far as I can tell, we don’t seem to have a broader story/ symbol embedded into our broader psyche to explain this need for nation building of our First Nations peoples or to adequately capture why this rebirth is critical to the well-being of all our First Nations peoples and for all of us too.
It’s as though in our symbols of multiculturalism/pluralism/melting pot, we have gone too far and left a significant group of our peoples who are limping, struggling behind … and we need to go back a bit. It seems we are placing such a high value on the concept of the precedence of universal belonging over cultural/political boundaries that we are forgetting … not everyone is yet able to share this same world view … … I’m sorry I don’t have a better story or symbol to explain it … or why this is so important …