This week I am reading the autobiography of John Lewis, and I watched the documentary Restrepo. The contradictions can't be brighter. Do we confront evil with violence or with nonviolence?
John Lewis was instrumental in the civil rights movement, considered one of the Big Six. John's humble autobiography is a testament to his sincere and complete commitment to nonviolence. As indignities grew to burnings, horrific beatings, and even multiple murders, John held firm to his value that love and nonviolence were the only lasting answer to evil.
Restrepo is a documentary movie of a remote outpost of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. These soldiers were put into an impossibly dangerous situation, where good motives and diplomacy were useless against the daily attempts to kill them. These soldiers responded exactly as they were trained and with the equipment in their hands, killing both "bad guys" and innocent people. When the men mourn the deaths of their brothers, the captain of the outpost sums up the entire cycle by exhorting his men, "We need to go out there and make them pay... we need to make THEM feel the way that we're feeling."
I can't do justice to the two themes presented above, but I am struck (again) by the humble and powerful path of nonviolence. The unique bravery in saying
I can't do justice to the two themes presented above, but I am struck (again) by the humble and powerful path of nonviolence. The unique bravery in saying
I offer my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pull out my beard;
I will not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
The words hang ridiculous in the air immediately after I read them. To what extent can I really live that level of love? It feels dangerously vulnerable. It also feels like a conversation worth having, a way of life worth exploring.
