THE ROOT OF VIOLENCE

                                          

 Most time when people make choices they usually don't weigh the consequences of  the choices they make because the consequences that follows the choices they make don't affect them directly. Individuals make choices, nations make choices. War for example is a destructive choice that disrupt societal bond, increase loss of trust, damage hopes and dreams, grow the seed of revenge in many others and increase violence tendencies among many affected people. War has made many children orphans, many wives widows, many husbands widowers, war has made many outcast, many refugees, many street girls who rely on prostitution and charity for survival. In the world where bankers, nurses, engineers, doctors, lawyers are emerging the same world is making terrorists, gang members, drug addicts, professional robbers and thieves. While many people are occupying the presidential position, chairmanship positions,  CEO position  in many multinational  corporations, many others are filling the prison yards, rehabilitation centers for many alcohol and drug related problems, many are sentenced to death for committing murder and many choose to be a suicide bomber.

Most time we wonder why the world is full of people who commit violent act and we tend to blame them for all the ills that take place in the society and the world at large and exclude the fact that each of us at one point in our lives have set a chain of " cause" in motion which come back to us in the society as violence, terrorism, pain, suffering as a result of how we choose to treat others. It is often said that the problem of man is man himself. Each of us at one point in our lives have sown the seed of violence in the mind of many whom we consider low to us by virtue of the position we hold. Today many orphans end up in the streets as a result of being treated with so much disdain and disregard by relatives who only are interested in the property of the deceased. Such are those whose conscience and common sense has been lost to greed without regard to human lives. Such are those who subject orphans to ill treatment. Today children many of which are babies are abandoned, neglected, and left for death by many young girls who lack the inbuilt mechanism called conscience which guide good behavior. Many homeless girls ( street girls) who have absolutely no idea of what it takes to be parent are forced to become mothers by those who seem to have no control over their libido.

The health of many societies are crumbling as a growing bodies of terrorists are emerging and recruiting new members many of which are outcast, homeless children, vagabonds, gang members, and many helpless drug addicts on the streets which keep violence on the up roar. This is the root of violence. They want to get back at the society that treat them with so much hate, neglect, cruelty and suffering. They want to get back at the society that harass them sexually. They want to get back at the society that use many of them as ritual lambs. This is the reality of the world we live in today as a result of the choices each and everyone of us make. Many countries today try to stop violence without paying attention to the root. To put an end to terrorism it has to be addressed from the root. Violence is often a result of growing seeds of revenge that many homeless children carry around in the form of pain, anger, hate against the society that treat them with so much disregard, rejection and disdain.

Human being by default has the tendency to seek revenge but the inbuilt mechanism called conscience by virtue of moral upbringing make many constructively direct their revenge. Many who strongly adhere scriptural advice have learned to revenge in a more constructive way by being good and kind to those who treat them so unfairly. Doing this, those who treat them unfairly get hurt on the inside. The inbuilt mechanism called conscience is what regulate human behavior and it grows when morality increasingly get incorporated into  our character. When we break our moral code our inbuilt mechanism is the first to judge us by exposing us to some range of negative emotions that accompanies such bad behavior. Many of these children growing up in the street settings are exposed to starvation, malnutrition, neglect, pain, suffering, physical abuse and psychological torture. As a result of not growing in a proper family setting they are void of moral upbringing that develop character and grow conscience. Hence they lack conscience and character. As a result of pain and suffering such  child encounter daily, hate, resentment and revenge grow in him against humanity as his hope, ambition and future are damaged due to lost of parents in war and terrorism. He is forced to rely on charity for survival.  Strangers walk past him with little or no compassion and most time grudgingly drop coins in his "bowl" which he carries around for dual purpose( feeding and collection of money) and the same bowl often serves a third purpose as he use it to protect his head from the harsh weather condition on a hot sunny day.

Today many terrorist group are busy recruiting many of these street kids by brainwashing and taking advantage of their vulnerable nature. They are increasingly using them in various parts of the world to serve a destructive end against humanity. They tell him humanity is evil, mean, wicked, and as such unworthy to live. As a result of the experience he had gathered on the street he easily succumb to this ill belief and revenge increasingly grow in him. The child who should be given a book, is given a gun. The child who should be in the classroom facing the chalk board and absorbing the letters before him, is in the open field armed with a grenade and is taught how to shoot a gun by some terrorist group. The child who should be in the chemistry lab mixing chemicals, absorbing knowledge  and finding solutions to the ailment that befall mankind is in the terrorist camp studying many toxic chemicals that make up the bullet which he uses against humanity. This is the root of violence. If these problems are not addressed from the root , the rise of the child terrorist will continue  and many innocent individuals will keep going on their early demise.

Thanks for reading this article. I dedicate this article to the Almighty God who is the source of inspiration.

Written by : Uwagboe Anthonia Peace.

  Stay blessed