The Roots of Violence and Conflict and our Search for Peace

The beginning of violence in the human race has its biblical explanation with Cain’s killing of his brother Abel. The cause was Cain’s envy of Abel who obtained the favor of God with his sacrificial offering because he brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock while Cain brought only some of the fruits of the land he tilled, probably not the best fruits, because God did not look with favor on his offering. Cain murdered his brother Abel out of envy, and from this first bloody murder, countless murders followed for various reasons – anger, hatred, envy, jealousy, greed, imperialism, colonization, or through wars and tribal or state punishment. The means for killing also evolved through time – through the use of hands for strangling or beating, or through rocks, wooden bats, knives, swords, arrows, and later, guns, machine guns, bazookas, grenades, bombs, gas, poisons, and chemical weapons.

With violence comes conflict or the disagreement between two people or groups of people, which varies in extent of hostility of the people or groups involved. Conflict has different root causes, ranging from light causes to grave ones. Conflict can ensue from disagreement of opinions or points of view, the deprivation of rights or needs of one person or group of people by another, offense done by one person to another leading to retaliation and mutual retaliation, unequal power wherein the more powerful uses its power to the other’s disadvantage, lack of peacekeeping efforts between two conflicting parties, and some other causes. The root causes, however, can be identified as hatred, bigotry, racism, anger, pride, greed, unforgiveness, the adherence to violence-prone principles or tenets in life, and evil intentions such as envy, lust, or the pleasure of inflicting harm to people known as sadism and barbarism. On the other hand, the resort to violence can also be due to the feeling of being oppressed, being deprived of rights and needs, – such motivated people to go into the mountains to fight the military apparatus or to fight the oppressive invaders or colonizers.

Bigotry rooted in pride for one’s own race was the root cause for Hitler’s order to exterminate Jews, Gypsies, and all those who chose to protect the Jews. One can also identify the root causes from among those enumerated above for the American invasion of Iraq, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the Muslim rebellion in Mindanao, the NPAs’ rebellion against the government, the Middle East conflict, or the conflicts found at home, in school, workplaces, and the community. The downing of Malaysian Airlines 17 or MH17 is connected to the violent conflict between Ukraine and Russia, and between the pro-government Ukrainians and the pro-Russian Ukrainians. Passing through war zone, MH17 was mistaken as a military plane; hence, it was shot down with a high-powered missile, killing all the 298 people on board.

In media, violence is glorified and becomes a source of entertainment. People thrill at the sight of fast-paced violence, of destruction and killing, at the hands of so-called super heroes, terminators, perfect cops, valorous soldiers, and handsome agents with licenses to kill. Kids, teenagers, and young adults are thrilled with violence in video games. Clearly, entertainment media uses violence to sell. It is one of the culprits for the glorification of violence in society.

Violence breeds violence; those who kill by the sword will die through the sword. We are entertained by violence in media, but violence leads to death and destruction.

In all these conflicts and violence, we long for peace, and it is good to know that there are many people in the world who love peace, who long for peace, who seek to uplift humanity, who seek to uphold compassion and love. They are among those who become engaged in conflict resolution, who seek peace in themselves and in their homes, workplaces, and communities.

The antidote to conflict and violence is the love for peace and harmony. The antidote to hatred and anger is love and forgiveness, and the antidote to greed is selflessness and generosity. The antidote to aggression is respect for human rights and needs, and the antidote to bigotry is seeing the beauty in the other person. Finally, the antidote to sadism or cruelty which leads to guiltless murder is compassion, which connotes kindness and tenderness. Cultivating compassion and love in our hearts for our fellow human beings is the key to preventing murder, genocide, bloody retaliations, and war. The way to peace is to love one’s enemies, as Jesus Christ commanded, something which people need to follow to stop all violent conflicts occurring or threatening to occur in the world.

May Israelis consider Palestinians their brothers and sisters and vice versa, and may radical groups be converted from resorting to violence to resorting to peace, diplomacy, and reconciliation, so be it!

About the author: Belinda F. Espiritu is a faculty member of the University of the Philippines Cebu. She holds a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and a PhD degree in Communication. She would like to hear from the readers about their feedback or comments on her articles through her email address: belinda.espiritu@gmail.com to set a conversation going even after her articles have been published.