Dear Friends: Since becoming a Quaker, I have realized the importance and urgency of having peace. We have been programmed to believe that violence is the only way to get someone to stop aggression. But in order to have true peace, we must stop responding in kind. Violence only leads to more violence, and if you go to war to fight for peace, you might win the war, but you’ve only subdued the “enemy.” There will still be thoughts of revenge, so that’s not really peace. (Consider how the Southerners feel about Dixie.)
So now the question arises: How do we obtain that peace? My thought is that we need to do away with the concept of “power over” people. We have been programmed for millennia to believe that in order to get ahead in this world, there must be competition, and in order to survive, we must vanquish the opponent. That won’t cut it. We must figure out how to survive without vanquishing our opponent. This will be the hardest thing for humans to get their heads around that has ever come to light, but this needs to happen if we are going to survive as a species. We need to work together because that’s the way it’s supposed to be and how Jesus tells us to be.
– Dave Ireland, Boulder Friends Meeting (IMYM)