Essay Example: Violence is Never the Answer

Imagine a world without any violence. Understand that violence isn’t needed. Violence should never be used, and it takes more strength and discipline to use nonviolence. Nonviolence promotes a state of acceptance and a sense that we are all one big community. The Highschool the Junji Sarashina was a community of 300 students. Martin Luther King created a sense of community with his activism. and Mahatma Gandhi with his hunger strikes all of these historical figures made people belive that you don’t need to use violence to make yourself powerful.

One reason violence is never the answer is of all the people that died in the bombing of Hiroshima. This argument is supported by “The Century”, a book looking at major events in history over the last century. According to Junji Sarashina who was 16 years old and a junior in high school. “When we got to the school, we found that about 285 out of the 300 students died.” Junji was working at a nearby factory during the bombing, 95% of the people at Junji’s school died that day. Think about all of the young men and women that they could have been, they could have brought peace or found cures for diseases, maybe even solved world hunger.

Another reason violence is never the answer is the Martin Luther King Jr, during the civil rights movement, as you probably know, King wanted everyone to have equality and to be treated equally no matter the color of their skin, so he would lead peaceful protests and rallies. Often king would get arrested and put in jail, he was once arrested in Birmingham Alabama, which is where he wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. One of my favorite quotes is “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. I love this quote because King knows that if one state is filled with prejudices and injustice then that could make other states follow. For example with George, Floyd protests were seen all over the country, not just in Minnesota. So truly “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

Even in Great Britain and Ireland, the colonial power in Trinidad first announced in 1833 the rising total of the liberation of slaves by 1840. In 1834 to address the Governor about the new laws, a nonviolent group of mostly elderly people of African descent began chanting "Pas de six and. Point de six ans" Which means, no six years, referring to the six more years they would have served as slaves. Peaceful protests endured until a resolution to abolish apprenticeship. An elderly group of apprentices and slaves peacefully protested until they were able to make a change without violence.

Some might say that violence is needed and nonviolence is for people who are scared and don’t want confrontation. That nonviolence is for people who don’t feel anger and the weak. However, some of the most influential people in history were believers in nonviolence. According to “The Law of Love by M.K. Gandhi” Gandhi “ It is not that I am incapable of anger, for instance, but I succeed almost on all occasions to keep my feeling under control.” Gandhi states that it isn’t the fact that he does not feel anger. It’s that he accomplishes keeping his feelings in check and staying calm. He doesn’t need to take his anger out on anyone or thing. Even though some may say violence is needed and nonviolence is for people who are scared and don’t feel anger. In actuality, nonviolence takes more discipline and power.

Although some may argue that violence is needed and nonviolence is for people who are scared and don’t want confrontation. Ultimately nonviolence takes more discipline and power. First, who do you think the young minds of those high schoolers could’ve become they could have brought peace or found cures for diseases, maybe even solved world hunger. Second, think about the impact that Martin Luther King Jr had on the civil rights movement, he was such a big impact it’s a national holiday. Furthermore, think about Gandhi and how impactful he was throughout the world not just in his country. In summary, violence is never the answer, is important because of all the lives lost to wars and injustices and prejudices. Violence is never the answer.