A
Profound Recognition
That
Nonviolence Is the Answer to the
Crucial
Political and Moral Question
of
Our Time
~~
The
Need for Mankind to Overcome Oppression and Violence without Resorting
to Violence and Oppression
Civilization and
violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States,
following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is
not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for
social transformation. Sooner or
later all the people of the world will have to discover
If this is to be
achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects
revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a
I refuse to accept
despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse
to accept
the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally
incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever
confronts him.
I refuse to accept the
idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsom in the river of life unable to
influence the unfolding events which surround him. I
I refuse to accept the
cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic
stairway
into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed
truth
and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why
right
temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.
I believe that even amid today's
mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter
tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the
blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of
shame to reign supreme among the children of men.