Nonviolence

Whenever I become aware of how injustice is done, how someone has to suffer, I feel like this resonates with a certain amount of pain present in me, a disappointment and frustration about the fact that those who inflict suffering with their actions, at best do not realize that they create suffering or at worst even enjoy this circumstance.

Reflecting on this, I usually feel sad, powerless, desperate and angry at the same time.

It can be simple things, such as noticing how a person or animal feels lonely. Or that people or animals are suffering from something external, such as cold, thirst or hunger.

It can also be things like noticing that animals (or people) are being treated badly; from being treated without love to being tortured or even killed.

I realize that, as a rule, it is not just empathy with another being that occupies me emotionally and mentally in such moments, but also a certain disappointment or anger at myself for not being able to do anything about such "suffering" in many situations.

Everywhere in this world I meet people and animals alike who I perceive as maladjusted, frightened, insecure, lacking in self-confidence or self-love.

To me, all of this is like a vicious circle. After all, tormented beings often become self-tormentors and ultimately often end up tormenting others. Although I strongly feel that the latter does not apply to me personally, the penultimate surely does.

I may not be the cause of other's suffering, but due to the forces between the perceived suffering of others and the powerlessness within me to do something about it, I am certainly the cause of a lack of self-consideration, a lack of self-compassion, a lack of self-love in such situations.

What makes all of this harder for me is the fact that I also empathize with those who are the source of violence. That they probably didn't have it easy in their lives either, didn't experience enough love or simply didn't learn to do better.