"Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love." -- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

Today, I found this  passage from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  Words spoken decades before by this courageous peace-seeker still ring true today.  When I read his words, I thought of this heart I plucked from a fire a couple years ago.  It was still smoldering a little from the heat and intensity of the flames.  I wondered if it would eventually turn to ashes or maybe break away in pieces. For whatever reason, it didn't. This charred heart reminded me that the heart can withstand great turmoil, tragedy, and trauma. The heart can do this because It's resilient and fragile at the same time. It seeks peace and knows only how to love. Maybe that's why I thought about it when I read this by Dr King... 

"Violence never brings permanent peace.  It solves no social problem; it merely creates new and more complicated ones.  Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all.  It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seek to annihilate rather than convert.  Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.  It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible.  It leaves society in a monologue rather than a dialogue.  Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers." 

-- Aloha