The Elephant In The Room?

Violence begets violence! and violence comes from fear....... "the elephant in the room" ......and we cannot force people to face their fears, in fact attacking or criticising them only reinforces their fears.

Sure we need to stand up and say "no!" - we need to protect ourselves and children from violence.

My question is how willing are we to go one step further and face our own fears, and how can we find ways of addressing the fears of people who are convinced that they are right, and who are not aware that their actions are driven by fear?

I know that this may sound strange and is very challenging, however I believe that, whilst we need to stand up for what we believe in and protect ourselves and children from violence, we also need to listen, to do our best to understand where this violence is coming from.

There is a small chance that if we can bring ourselves to listen and genuinely try to understand these people, they may feel safe enough to soften a little and listen to us.

A big ask, yes, and if enough of us can do this then who knows? perhaps the doors will open and we can start to communicate on a different level.....? and perhaps then we can start to make this world a safer place for all of us.....?