Violence then and Now

 

Violence then and Now

When I was growing up as a youth in New York City in the 1980’s, I felt estranged by my surroundings that seemed foreign and inscrutable. I would always find myself trying to fit in at school and outside, whenever I’d go out to play in the park. Alas, I was a foreign-born citizen from another country and trying to relate to a foreign land, after experiencing a family tragedy, was almost impossible. But like any youth, I tried to break the barrier but would always come face to face with violence. The violence was occurring outside of my home at a park that everyone used, where kids from all over, young and old, would come to convene. However, scenes of violence and bullying would often break out in these hostile environs that today, are recalled in the same violence that I see on our streets and roads.

In those days, when I was younger, I saw countless acts of violence that were truly shocking to me. I did not know what to make of it. If a lot of it was not directed toward the new kid on the block of Pakistani origin, it was other random acts of violence with kids fighting over anything like bragging rights for the smallest things, bullying or harassment on the playground by the bigger kid, gangs that would take out some kind of revenge, or racial tensions with kids teasing other kids or other kinds of playground brawls. Needless to say, it left a kid from a foreign land quite frightened and broken up due to witnessing such acts.

Now all these years later I see the same playing out on the streets of our great nation with clashes of protesters and police, citizens killing one another, policeman using excessive force, or simply damage of public property and vandalism. Such acts are distressing and to know that this is the same kind of violence that existed in my youth, is truly uncanny and makes me think that there is so much regress in our society. When as a person, I have been able to experience the true power of non-violence and peaceful protest to overcome the iniquities of my youth, it is hard to see that others do not have the same view. When in my youth, I reached out to others of different backgrounds in my community to make friends and was able to overcome some of the barriers of cultural separation, we see the same disintegration occurring in our communities today that hearkens back to the civil rights movement. How could the same pathos exist that bears such parallels to the microcosm of my life in those days to the macrocosm of our society today.

The reason is the lack of discipline and belief in the power of non-violence. When in my youth, my firm stance on non-violence often changed hearts and made friends out of enemies or outsiders, and even once, led one of the gangs in my neighborhood to come up to me and offer their thanks and gratitude, I knew that I could change my fellow man or neighbor by acts of love and kindness but in this current context, with so much uproar and furor, that leads to violence breaking out, we realize that there are forces that are trying to break apart the universal bond of humanity.

When I was able to withstand the violence in my youth, seeing my own family berated for their Pakistani origin, or my own siblings being harassed and stalked, accepting the insults of the white kids in our neighborhood who saw us as a lower caste, and random other acts of violence with kids beating up other kids in senseless brawls and macho fights to boost their ego, how can I forebear those same acts as they show up in my adult life in a whole new context but with the same violent undertones. It is through non-violent communication and an adherence to the principles of MLK and Mahatma Gandhi that can lead to greater hope and salvation.

If only the young people of today could know the scars of yesterday that are bore by people living among us that we can all heal and find real unity and forgiveness. Let’s hope through AVP we can bring that change in the lives of others.