Understanding violence

Warriors,

I first met my wife because her son was one of my martial arts students. He got in trouble at school for practicing his sword technique on the playground with a stick...alone, not threatening to anyone...but the teachers felt unsafe and he was sent to the principals office and his mother was called in because of his violent behavior.

He was 7 years old.

Any teacher that feels unsafe around a 7 year old shouldn't be a teacher.

Regardless, his mom called me and brought him to my adult class where we studied very intense techniques. She asked that I speak to him about his behavior at school.

I asked him, "Why did you get in trouble?"
Dylan said, "Because I was sword fighting on the playground."
I asked, "Who were you fighting?"
His face lit up, "I was St. Michael...I was battling the Dragon!"

His mom, who is now my wife, commented how no-one had bothered to ask him that question. Only judged him on being violent.

In that battle, raging in his mind...was he violent?

Consider this:
-A 12 year old boy broke the nose of a would-be kidnapper and got away...
-A 8 year old girl kicked a kidnapper in the shins and got away...
-The woman who owns my martial arts studio took on 2 kidnappers in a parking lot while the third one fled in the van they were going to put her in...the two kidnappers were hospitalized and all three were arrested and incarcerated...
-In WWII 72 million deaths total...with 416,800 American soldier deaths alone...

And so on...

I Googled "justified violence" and come up with pages of oratory and lecture on how violence is never justified. Yet throughout our history, time and time again, we find moments where we may argue that it was the only option left.

Politics aside...is there a good fight for you? What would you die for? What do you care about so deeply that you would die or kill for it? Could you look at that 8 year old girl who defeated a kidnapper with a swift kick to the shins and tell her she did the wrong thing? That she is violent?

What about peace? What about placing our hearts in the space between ego and reaction to create an energy of light and love around us? What about manifesting the positive and allow the truth of oneness to pervade the world? Why do we always return to our most base, animal instinct and react with a growl, and lash out with a bite...

Are we evolving or not?

Is enlightenment to transcend the need to survive and begin to create a world that thrives on connectivity and trust? Is piety to live in a state that is beyond our animal nature?

If your loved ones were threatened with a violent death at the hands of a criminal or animal...what would you do?

What are your choices?
A) Defend them with your whole being
B) Pray for deliverance and use the moment to generate the light that transforms the world
C) Both

Both? Can you do both?

Which do you choose?

Do we really understand violence yet?

With love,
Aaron