Returning Violence for Violence Multiplies Violence

“While it may be a primal human impulse, responding to violence with violence does not resolve conflicts but rather escalates them, creating a cycle of deeper harm, as famously stated by Martin Luther King Jr.: ‘Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars’". (Google’s AI). Today we’ve heard of another shooting in Dallas by someone who is frustrated with the federal government’s ICE presence and actions. Violence is certainly done with a gun. Violence can also be done with other instruments, such as a fist, slap, car, etc. What the leaders of this country seem not to know is that violence is also done with words. When someone with whom you disagree is described with “put down” or belittling words as well as sterotyped prejudices along with threats of arrest, deportation and/or legal action, that is violence. I pray there will be someone who has the courage and wisdom who can turn our country toward the light rather than take us deeper into the darkness.