The Danes also used nonviolent ways to protect the Jewishpeople in Denmark.
who had been married and living with herparents in Germany under Hitler at the time of World War II. Shewas married when she was sixteen. Her first child was born whenshe was seventeen and the second when she was eighteen. She wasnineteen when three things happened to her. The first: her home wasdestroyed and her parents killed by an English bomb. I guess theythought they were liberating her. The second thing that happened:
her husband was taken away by the Nazis, and she assumed he wasdead because she never heard from him again. The third thing thathappened: she was injured and her two small children were killed byan American bomb.When I saw her she still carried the effects of theinjury. Again, we were ‘liberating’ her.
In her injured condition she wandered round and round with therefugees. Sometimes extenuating circumstances make you take aspiritual leap. She began thinking, They have injured and even destroyedour bodies, but they have injured their own souls, and that is worse. She wasable to feel compassion and pray for all connected with the situation,the killed and the killer. She was able to maintain such a good attitudethat she was befriended by German people, who at the risk oftheir lives, got her to England where she was befriended by the Englishpeople, and eventually got to the United States The entire room was faced with polished granite..
Now obviously this represents the most amazing victory of thespirit under the most difficult circumstances you could possiblyimagine. It also illustrates something else. Who or what was thatwoman’s enemy? Was it the English who destroyed her home andkilled her parents, or the Germans who killed her husband, or theAmericans who injured her and killed her two small children? Theanswer is amazingly obvious: it was war that was her real enemy. Itwas the false belief that violence will accomplish something, that evilcan be overcome by more evil. That was her real enemy, and it’s thereal enemy of all mankind.
Just as a human soul that faces great difficulties also faces greatopportunities for spiritual growth, so a human society that facesdestruction also faces the opportunity to enter a period of renaissance.
I think that, barring an accident, the wish to survive will keepus from a nuclear war. And I think both sides will change.We willmove toward more economic and social democracy, and they willmove toward more political and individual democracy. The idealsociety has yet to be built—one which balances nicely collectivewell-being and individual well-being.
Stories about Non-Violence.
One day as I was musing beside an old fort, I wondered what itwould say to the people of the world if it could speak, and I wrotethis article:
AN OLD FORT SPEAKSWhen I was built much time and money was spent on me,because it was thought that I would defend the city against allinvaders. Now I stand forlorn, since it does not require great wisdomto recognize that I am obsolete. But I am not the only materialdefense which is obsolete. Even the most modern of them are obsoletenow, although you in your fear and your bewilderment still clingto them. But while in your immaturity you lavish your time and yourtreasure upon them, you know in your hearts that they cannotdefend you against anything. You know that you stand, seeminglydefenseless, facing a new age, while the nuclear bomb says to you,“Make peace or perish!” But are you really defenseless because allmaterial defenses have crumbled as they were bound to crumble?
Have you forgotten the defense which cannot crumble, the defensewhich lies in obedience to higher law? Down through the ages yourbest teachings and your best selves have been telling you that evil canonly be overcome by good, and experience has shown that if youwant to make friends you must be friendly. When will you havewisdom enough to forsake the path to annihilation and turn to thedefense which is timeless and ageless and changeless? People ofearth, the decision is before you! You can still choose life, but youmust choose quickly!
THIS STRANGE CREATURE CALLED MANAn outsider might view this strange creature called Man thisway:
A Being from another world parked his space ship in an isolatedspot. The next morning he passed a military camp, where he sawmen sticking knives fastened to odd looking poles into bags of straw.
“What is this?” he asked a uniformed youth. “Bayonet practice,”
answered the youth.“We’re practicing on dummies.We have to learnto use the bayonet a certain way to kill a man. Of course we don’tkill many men with bayonets.We kill most of them with bombs.”
“But why should you want to learn to kill men?” exclaimed theBeing, aghast. “We don’t,” said the youth bitterly. “We are sent hereagainst our will and we don’t know what to do about it.”
That afternoon the Being passed through a large city. He noticeda crowd gathered in a public square to see a uniformed youth beingdecorated with a medal. “Why is he being decorated with a medal?”
inquired the Being. “Because he killed a hundred men in battle,” saidthe man beside him. The Being looked with horror upon the youthwho had killed a hundred men and walked away.