“Every murder or other injury, no matter for what cause, committed or inflicted on another is a crime against humanity.” ~ Gandhi, Harijan, July 20, 1925

There’s a sign for Army recruitment on the way out of Petaluma that I pass daily. A picture of a young woman, probably a recent high school grad (it is summer after all), and the words above her say: “I’m Army. I’m tough. Challenge me.” My friend Michael quipped as we passed it the other day, “Ok, we challenge you to be nonviolent.” Gandhi believed that nonviolence is the “law of our being,” but he was fully aware that living up to that law was challenging (even then). Any use of violence against one another is a violation of that law, a crime against humanity in the deepest sense—for any reason. This is something to keep in mind as we hear justification after justification for the use of violent force, whether it be by police, military or even between family, friends and neighbors, and any time we hear the belief that in being violent we live up to our potential.

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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