Strength through non-violence

Point number 7.

7. War, violence, fighting, and bullying do not make you strong. Peace, pacifism, and care do not make you weak. If you seek strength through violence you become a bully, if you seek strength through care, you change your personal universe and that can spread to change the world.

For some reason we tend to think of violent behavior as a sign of strength and peace as a display of weakness. So maybe that is a slight generalization, but the truth is we see it in play everyday. A nation that is attacked and reacts in kind is seem as showing a display of strength. If that same country chose to not attack back then they would be considered weak. It is commonly thought that a choice for non-violence by a country in particular would lead others to choose to attack as well. You can only maintain safety through a superior military might. This was easily seen during the Cold War. We built the atomic bomb, Russia had to have it. In response to that we increased our stockpile, and they increased theirs, and we...so forth. Luckily, no one was stupid enough to fire one off given the policy of full retaliation. The concept seemed to be that if we had this enormous stockpile of nuclear weapons and they had a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons then no one would start a war given the horrid outcome of this. So instead we invaded, attacked, coerced, and supported revolutions to undermine the military advantage of the other. In the name of fighting communism America gave money which was used by foreign governments to fight communism, sponsored militant groups in wars on Soviet occupation, and sent thousands of Americans into wars that did not threaten American soil.

In the Cold War era we tried to demonstrate American strength through military might and felt that any acts of peace would be seen as weakness by the Russians. Our ideological war with the Russians caused enormous unrest at home which fostered massive social change and a shift in the thought process for what indicated world power. From this war we gained enemies in the Middle and Far East, has led us into a war with North Korea that was never officially ended, and left us with very little except for a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons which could fall into the wrong hands and lead to death on a massive scale. Our country spent so much in defense that we have never been able to cut that much of the prosperity that country experienced leaving the second World War was spent. This spending was warned against by Eisenhower who told us to avoid spending in the Industrial Military Complex. In fact, the only advances that came out of the Cold War of benefit to the world were the Space Program, internet, and personal computing, advances that could have been gained as much through peace as war.

Let's look at the countries who chose to not be involved in the Cold War and sought out peace following World War II. Many of the Norse countries did not build armies in the Cold War, but focused on local economies research and development. Until the recent troubles in Norway they have experienced huge economic growth and prosperity with relative peace in their borders. Japan and Germany also experienced massive growth in technology (particularly Japan) and economy without a growing army or frequent wars. Germany is an interesting one and one I probably don't know enough about. I know that the loss of World War II and the occupation by Russia and Allied forces moved the country further from thoughts of war and violence and more toward peace. The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe was not the result of violent upheaval in most countries, but concerted and fervent non-violent action. Look into the Velvet Revolution in Prague as a good example. If my historical facts are inaccurate please correct me with sighted facts in your comments.

As we look at the Nordic countries (I'm including Sweden in this by the way), modern Germany, and Japan we would not call them weak, yet if the United States chose peace over violence people in this country would be very angry with the government. It is not weakness to choose peace and more then violence is an indication of strength.