Essay Sample about Civil Disobedience

Injustices have occurred across a broad spectrum of topics throughout history, in all different places and fashions. Often, people jump into violence and destruction to solve or right these injustices, but that only makes things worse. The only way to effectively fight against the injustices in the world and society is to do so peacefully.

Civil disobedience is the act of disobeying the law in protest of something, civilly. But what does this mean? To break it down: civil means courteous or polite; and disobedience is the refusal or neglect to obey, an act of failing or refusing to behave as told or taught. Some examples of civil disobedience are marches, boycotts, protests, etc. These acts are meant to be done peacefully, as a way to show that the level of violence executed in injustices will not be stooped down to.

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr had very similar ideas on how to approach the fight for change when injustices arise. Both men had very peaceful souls and constantly preached nonviolence within other people’s souls. Their ideas were non-destructive and called for peace to obtain justice. Many would say these men were cowards who just don’t want to get their hands dirty, but they were quite the opposite. Peacefully protesting is dangerous, as some people love to “seek and destroy” what they don’t agree with or believe in. But violence from others only means that you are being heard. MLK received many violent threats from those around him that didn’t agree with him, but those people were listening to him. Those people knew what his goal was and didn’t agree with it, so they wrongly acted out against him… but they heard him. They understood he was going to make change happen, and wanted to try and stop him. Unsuccessfully. Mahatma Gandhi was repeatedly thrown in prison for protesting against British rule in India. If British rulers didn’t think Gandhi was going to be able to change the way things were, he would have been ignored. These men were brave enough to fight the injustices around them without using violence or causing destruction. They could spark change peacefully, which only goes to show how much more powerful peace is than violence and destruction.

Pope John Paul II, a Polish Pope who lived a life of trying to right the injustices around him, once said, “Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create.” When people act out destructively and violently, they are no better than those causing the injustices in the world. Violence is an injustice in itself. With our First Amendment rights as Americans, people have the right to say and believe whatever they please, but not to harm other people or things. What change is there to come if violence and destruction carry on? How is it possible to have a world without injustice if the injustice of violence is used to fight injustice? Fighting injustice with “an eye for an eye” mentality will only cause continuous injustice throughout the world. There will be no end if the choice to stop isn’t made.

Peace is the solution, though hard to come by. It is the only way to fight the injustices in the world and society. It is the only way to bring people together, with no fear of being harmed, and the only way to right all the wrongs that have occurred through the centuries humans have been on this earth.