Starting with the Abolition of Slavery and ending...

I was doing some reading last night, and I began to think how often changes in history (revolutions, movements, change more broadly) are initiated by the other side. What I'm referring to, is the abolition of slavery, which was initiated by the North, who were non-dependent on it. The South with its slave-based economy, was of course in uproar.

What struck me is that I firmly believe in the dictum, "to each his own." I think it breeds a certain amount of respect for other people's values/culture, etc. But that led me to think about at which point one draws the line between respecting another's culture and taking a stand for what's right (as we perceive it). Was the north, with an economy that wasn't based on slave labor, largely (if not only) because of the unsuitable environment, in any position to dictate the agenda of the South? I'm not saying that slavery wasn't wrong, and by the tone of my posts, I don't think one should be confused by my position. But I guess what I'm asking is...I guess I'm still trying to make sense of it all.

In thinking about Gandhi, Mandela, MLK, and their calls for nonviolence, grounded in the civil disobedience of Henry David Thoreau, I thought about violence, and the role it plays in these movements. As much as I am now a proponent for nonviolence, I was at one point, a member of the United States military, one of the most war-mongering countries in the world. We fight violence with violence and seek to destabilize governments not sensitive to our interests with insurgencies. We've been the only nation to ever use a nuclear weapon on another people. Getting back on topic...I got to thinking how violence plays out. Surely, the American, French, and Haitian revolutions would not have played out without violence. So what does that mean for our future. In trying to envision a world without it, maybe I'm just being too optimistic. Because the conclusion I've come to is that one can fight people with nonviolence. But one can only fight violence with nonviolence for so long.

What do we do with all the war mongering people of the world? Arm them with a cause, I don't know, patriotism, and release them upon others in its name.