I started a thread about a month ago questioning the violence of people. I can conclude from that discussion that violence is everywhere and it's born from fear. I will not deny that there is too much violence in the US, but I cannot agree that it is only the US. Daylia, you, yourself posted on a thread about Canada, all the wars Canada has been involved in, including wars where Canada made it there before any US involvement, so to base violence on war statistics I think we can also include oh... about every country in the world. It looked like that was where Dr. Ira Leonard was going with his(I think Ira is a man, by the way!) article.
I'm not here to dog you though Daylia, I can see where your coming from and your concerns about violence. I just had a talk with a young man who brought a knife to school because he was being harrassed by some kids. He thought that was the thing to do. Use a weapon to keep these guys away from him. When I think about my response to him I actually shame myself. First I asked why he couldn't stay away from them and/or try to work it out. He said there was no way he could be friends with these guys. Then I asked why he couldn't just use his fists if he had to, instead of a weapon. So I helped to support a violence in using that mentality. Thinking of it as a milder form of violence, I still promoted violence and thinking about it now, I see I did the wrong thing and am ashamed of myself.
So really, Dalia, thanks. By starting this thread, I have evaluated a bit of my own thoughts and reactions to the problem of violence and find it inside of me as well. Now the thing to do is figure out an approach that moves us toward love.
Peace. Rustic