March 2: 

“Democracy and dependence on the military and police are incompatible.”

-Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 347)

Inspired by Gandhi’s vision of personal empowerment, in the pre-school classroom where I work with three to six year olds, we do not designate only one or two people to act as “peacekeeper” for a day. Instead, we discuss together how everyone is a peacekeeper at all times, and we work individually on our skills to become more effective at it day by day. To this extent, we are creating the microcosm of a truly democratic society. What does this look like outside of our school and in the “real” world? It begins with individuals becoming trained in the tools of nonviolent conflict de-escalation: mediation, restorative justice, compassionate communication and listening, empathy and other nonviolent skills necessary to work out our conflicts without relying on someone else to do it for us. The moment we give away our capacity to handle conflict creatively and constructively, we invite in power abuse and violence in those who take up the job for us. It is too precious a capacity, and too instrumental to true democracy, to give away.

Experiment in Nonviolence:

What skills do you feel you need to work on in order to feel more confident in handling a conflict in your life? Find a resource today that is meant to help you strengthen that capacity nonviolently.

Daily Metta 2015, a service of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, is a daily reflection on the strategic and spiritual insights of Mahatma Gandhi in thought, word and deed. As Gandhi called his life an “experiment in truth,” we have included an experiment in nonviolence to accompany each Daily Metta. Check in every day for new inspiration. Each year will be dedicated to another wisdom teacher.