home.social

#nonviolence — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #nonviolence, aggregated by home.social.

  1. A Different Way to “Never Forget”

    It’s hard to forget where I was the day it happened. I was walking with my family around the fun center at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, MI, when I saw the horrific news that chaos had rained down from the sky and taken so many innocent lives. People were weeping outside the wreckage as others dug through the rubble looking for bodies. My gut was wrenched. I couldn’t believe the scene I was looking at.

    May we NEVER FORGET how a United States missile killed more than 100 schoolchildren on February 28th, 2026, at a small Iranian school on the first day of war with Iran.

    Though many have already forgotten. And I assume some still don’t even know it happened. It’s clear that Iran hasn’t forgotten, as the school was recently turned into a memorial, with pictures displayed of all the innocent lives that were taken.

    “Never forget” is 9/11’s catchphrase, and it has generally bothered me over the years. I think I understand what we mean to communicate with it: “Never forget the thousands of lives lost that day and how America came together to grieve and heal in that moment.”

    But given America’s character and response, that’s never been the vibe I’ve gotten from the catchphrase. Instead, I hear it through the lens of violence, blood, and anger. I see it through our immediate militaristic response of a “War on Terror.” “Never forget” has always struck me as a mindset that allows us to villainize and attack others when we perceive them as a threat.

    But despite our commitment to never forget, I think we already have. If we remembered, then we would weep every time the United States crumbles another building to the ground. The rubble, the bodies, the weeping, the flashing lights, and the sirens would be giving us flashbacks of 9/11.

    But instead of grieving the 100+ bodies of schoolchildren, we argue about whose fault it was, as we try to justify the horrors as an unfortunate part of war. Our anger blinds us to hearing the message in the innocent blood crying out from the ground of Iran in unison with the innocent blood of the 9/11 victims crying out from the ground of America. More violence does not heal their agony. It only stirs up the cry of more innocent blood.

    If we’re truly never going to forget, then may we never forget in a way that heals the world. May our crumbled building teach us not to crumble buildings. May our lost loved ones teach us not to take the lives of others. May the violence done to us teach us to see a different way forward than more violence.

    May we never forget so that we never reenact our worst days on others.

    #911 #children #ChristianEthics #civilianCasualties #grief #Iran #nonviolence #peace #remembrance #violence #war
  2. #resist #resistauthoritarianism #nonviolence #digger

    Winstanley denounced coercive government (“government by the sword”) and private property (“mine and thine”), and through non-violent direct action sought to create egalitarian communities where everything would be held in common.

    anarchistfederation.net/gerrar

  3. #singapore #israel #palestine : #gaza / #humaneights / #ngos / #nonviolence / #protest / #repression

    „Human Rights Watch ( #HRW ), #AmnestyInternational, and #CIVICUS on Thursday urged the Singapore government to drop charges against several human rights activists involved in peaceful assemblies in support of Gaza and to challenge the #deathpenalty.“

    jurist.org/news/2026/09/human-

  4. #singapore #israel #palestine : #gaza / #humaneights / #ngos / #nonviolence / #protest / #repression

    „Human Rights Watch ( #HRW ), #AmnestyInternational, and #CIVICUS on Thursday urged the Singapore government to drop charges against several human rights activists involved in peaceful assemblies in support of Gaza and to challenge the #deathpenalty.“

    jurist.org/news/2026/09/human-

  5. #singapore #israel #palestine : #gaza / #humaneights / #ngos / #nonviolence / #protest / #repression

    „Human Rights Watch ( #HRW ), #AmnestyInternational, and #CIVICUS on Thursday urged the Singapore government to drop charges against several human rights activists involved in peaceful assemblies in support of Gaza and to challenge the #deathpenalty.“

    jurist.org/news/2026/09/human-

  6. #singapore #israel #palestine : #gaza / #humaneights / #ngos / #nonviolence / #protest / #repression

    „Human Rights Watch ( #HRW ), #AmnestyInternational, and #CIVICUS on Thursday urged the Singapore government to drop charges against several human rights activists involved in peaceful assemblies in support of Gaza and to challenge the #deathpenalty.“

    jurist.org/news/2026/09/human-

  7. The Geometry of Breaking or Healing

    peacegroover@deviantart

    Those are the two options.

    To be part of the destruction of that which is precious,
    even the life of the enemy.
    Or a conduit for the substance that binds up wounds and the broken-hearted.

    Even when flaws cause me to hurt those around me or engage in broken thoughts and so, for a time, join with the razing power,
    if I am repentant, make the necessary changes, and return to the healing stream,
    then the danger of losing my humanity is minimized.

    And, if at the end of my life when I am weighed in the balance, and my contribution to fixing outweighs the breaking, then I will be satisfied to rest easy in the knowledge that in some small way I was an addition to the healing sum.

    September 10, 2014

    #Anabaptism #Brokenness #ChristianPacifism #compassion #conscience #CycleOfViolence #DoingNoHarm #enemyLove #Ethics #Forgiveness #Healing #healingTheWorld #humanDignity #Humanity #LoveYourEnemies #mennonite #Mercy #moralResponsibility #Nonviolence #peaceTheology #Peacebuilding #Peacemaking #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Reconciliation #RedemptiveViolence #repair #Repentance #restoration #RestorativeJustice #Shalom #spiritualFormation #SpiritualReflection #TheHealingStream #Transformation #ViolenceAndPeace #woundedness #Writing
  8. The Geometry of Breaking or Healing

    peacegroover@deviantart

    Those are the two options.

    To be part of the destruction of that which is precious,
    even the life of the enemy.
    Or a conduit for the substance that binds up wounds and the broken-hearted.

    Even when flaws cause me to hurt those around me or engage in broken thoughts and so, for a time, join with the razing power,
    if I am repentant, make the necessary changes, and return to the healing stream,
    then the danger of losing my humanity is minimized.

    And, if at the end of my life when I am weighed in the balance, and my contribution to fixing outweighs the breaking, then I will be satisfied to rest easy in the knowledge that in some small way I was an addition to the healing sum.

    September 10, 2014

    #Anabaptism #Brokenness #ChristianPacifism #compassion #conscience #CycleOfViolence #DoingNoHarm #enemyLove #Ethics #Forgiveness #Healing #healingTheWorld #humanDignity #Humanity #LoveYourEnemies #mennonite #Mercy #moralResponsibility #Nonviolence #peaceTheology #Peacebuilding #Peacemaking #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Reconciliation #RedemptiveViolence #repair #Repentance #restoration #RestorativeJustice #Shalom #spiritualFormation #SpiritualReflection #TheHealingStream #Transformation #ViolenceAndPeace #woundedness #Writing
  9. The Geometry of Breaking or Healing

    peacegroover@deviantart

    Those are the two options.

    To be part of the destruction of that which is precious,
    even the life of the enemy.
    Or a conduit for the substance that binds up wounds and the broken-hearted.

    Even when flaws cause me to hurt those around me or engage in broken thoughts and so, for a time, join with the razing power,
    if I am repentant, make the necessary changes, and return to the healing stream,
    then the danger of losing my humanity is minimized.

    And, if at the end of my life when I am weighed in the balance, and my contribution to fixing outweighs the breaking, then I will be satisfied to rest easy in the knowledge that in some small way I was an addition to the healing sum.

    September 10, 2014

    #Anabaptism #Brokenness #ChristianPacifism #compassion #conscience #CycleOfViolence #DoingNoHarm #enemyLove #Ethics #Forgiveness #Healing #healingTheWorld #humanDignity #Humanity #LoveYourEnemies #mennonite #Mercy #moralResponsibility #Nonviolence #peaceTheology #Peacebuilding #Peacemaking #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Reconciliation #RedemptiveViolence #repair #Repentance #restoration #RestorativeJustice #Shalom #spiritualFormation #SpiritualReflection #TheHealingStream #Transformation #ViolenceAndPeace #woundedness #Writing
  10. The Geometry of Breaking or Healing

    peacegroover@deviantart

    Those are the two options.

    To be part of the destruction of that which is precious,
    even the life of the enemy.
    Or a conduit for the substance that binds up wounds and the broken-hearted.

    Even when flaws cause me to hurt those around me or engage in broken thoughts and so, for a time, join with the razing power,
    if I am repentant, make the necessary changes, and return to the healing stream,
    then the danger of losing my humanity is minimized.

    And, if at the end of my life when I am weighed in the balance, and my contribution to fixing outweighs the breaking, then I will be satisfied to rest easy in the knowledge that in some small way I was an addition to the healing sum.

    September 10, 2014

    #Anabaptism #Brokenness #ChristianPacifism #compassion #conscience #CycleOfViolence #DoingNoHarm #enemyLove #Ethics #Forgiveness #Healing #healingTheWorld #humanDignity #Humanity #LoveYourEnemies #mennonite #Mercy #moralResponsibility #Nonviolence #peaceTheology #Peacebuilding #Peacemaking #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Reconciliation #RedemptiveViolence #repair #Repentance #restoration #RestorativeJustice #Shalom #spiritualFormation #SpiritualReflection #TheHealingStream #Transformation #ViolenceAndPeace #woundedness #Writing
  11. The Geometry of Breaking or Healing

    peacegroover@deviantart

    Those are the two options.

    To be part of the destruction of that which is precious,
    even the life of the enemy.
    Or a conduit for the substance that binds up wounds and the broken-hearted.

    Even when flaws cause me to hurt those around me or engage in broken thoughts and so, for a time, join with the razing power,
    if I am repentant, make the necessary changes, and return to the healing stream,
    then the danger of losing my humanity is minimized.

    And, if at the end of my life when I am weighed in the balance, and my contribution to fixing outweighs the breaking, then I will be satisfied to rest easy in the knowledge that in some small way I was an addition to the healing sum.

    September 10, 2014

    #Anabaptism #Brokenness #ChristianPacifism #compassion #conscience #CycleOfViolence #DoingNoHarm #enemyLove #Ethics #Forgiveness #Healing #healingTheWorld #humanDignity #Humanity #LoveYourEnemies #mennonite #Mercy #moralResponsibility #Nonviolence #peaceTheology #Peacebuilding #Peacemaking #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Reconciliation #RedemptiveViolence #repair #Repentance #restoration #RestorativeJustice #Shalom #spiritualFormation #SpiritualReflection #TheHealingStream #Transformation #ViolenceAndPeace #woundedness #Writing
  12. Strike

    The phobia of a copperhead strike
    is made real by the lunge of a
    lawnmower into the brush to shred
    the coiling orange and brown with
    a screaming whump only to realize
    that it was an eastern box turtle
    I had set upon.

    Once again what I am afraid of
    has led me to destroy what I love
    and I weep, wondering if I will ever
    become one whose perceived fears
    are not acted on.

    I did not look to see if the
    slowmover was dead
    but I knew. I could see the
    bloody pieces of her
    shell scattered across
    the lawn.

    September 3, 1996

    #1996 #accidentalHarm #backyardEncounter #boxTurtle #compassion #confessionalWriting #copperheadFear #CreationCare #creaturelyGrief #destroyingWhatWeLove #ecologicalGrief #Fear #fearAndViolence #fearBasedAction #griefAndRemorse #HereAreWordPressTagsForThisPieceEasternBoxTurtle #humanFear #lawnmowerTragedy #moralReflection #Nature #NatureWriting #Nonviolence #orangeAndBrown #perceivedDanger #phobia #poem #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Poetry #ProsePoem #Repentance #sacredCreatures #shell #SLOWMOVERFollowingGod3mph #Slowmover #Sorrow #SpiritualReflection #thoughts #turtle #turtleShell #unintendedViolence #Violence #vulnerableCreatures #whatIAmAfraidOf #whatILove #wildlife #Writing
  13. The Archer

    The Archer by kmls
    In the high sea of clouds,
    in willowing wisps of white,
    an evil lurks.

    The winds of the world bring
    the first whisper of change,
    an alien thing.

    A dragon.

    Red as blood, gleaming darkness,
    its armor, invincible?

    Heavy metal talons, drooling jaws,
    acid falling, burning earth below.

    It screams through the sky,
    wings creaking, flapping furiously,
    breathing flame.

    Men flee,
    like tiny ants scurrying
    from desecration
    into it.

    Only One holds his ground,
    a bow and one arrow
    in his hand.

    The Prince awaits,
    as if to allow the dragon to
    devour him.

    Then with a flash,
    he looses his arrow.

    It soars through the air.

    Blood gushing,
    the dart buried deep,
    the dragon crashes to the ground.

    Landing on the One.

    From amongst the dragon’s corpse,
    amidst dying coals and wisps of smoke,
    a figure crawls,
    stands.

    It is the Archer,
    the One,
    Him.

    From the collection “Words at 16 (1983)”

    #1983 #apocalypseImagery #battleImagery #ChristianAllegory #clouds #Courage #dragon #epicPoem #Faith #fantasyPoetry #fireAndSmoke #goodVersusEvil #Hope #kingdomImagery #MythicPoetry #Nonviolence #peace #PeaceGrooves #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #propheticImagination #redDragon #Redemption #resurrection #sacrifice #spiritualAllegory #symbolicWriting #theArcher #ThePrince #triumphOverEvil #victory #visionaryPoetry #Writing
  14. A Day for the World to Say Sorry

    From Australia’s National Sorry Day Toward an International Day of Truth, Repentance, and Repair

    A PeaceGrooves Reflection

    There are words so overused that they risk becoming weightless. Sorry is one of them. We say it when we bump into someone in a hallway, when we answer an email too late, when we make an insignificant mistake. Yet there are times when sorry is not small at all. There are wounds so deep, so deliberately inflicted, and so long denied that the speaking of sorrow becomes an act of public truth.

    Australia’s National Sorry Day, observed each year on May 26, is such a day. It remembers the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children forcibly removed from their families, communities, languages, and cultures under government policies now associated with the Stolen Generations. The date marks the anniversary of the 1997 tabling of the Bringing Them Home report, the landmark national inquiry that gathered testimony from survivors and documented the devastation caused by these removals. The report called not only for recognition of what had happened, but for apology, healing, reparations, family reunion, access to records, and measures ensuring such violations would never recur.

    National Sorry Day did not begin as a sentimental holiday….

    Read the full essay at PeaceGrooves.

    #AboriginalAndTorresStraitIslanderPeoples #AnabaptistPeaceWitness #Australia #buildingAJustFuture #colonialism #globalPeace #Healing #historicalMemory #IndigenousJustice #InternationalSorryDay #NationalSorryDay #Nonviolence #Peacebuilding #PeaceGrooves #publicApology #Reconciliation #rememberingThePast #reparations #Repentance #RestorativeJustice #SocialJustice #StolenGenerations #truthAndReconciliation
  15. The Sabbath Sabotage

    They told us
    holiness was neat,
    pressed flat like Sunday clothes,
    folded into bulletins,
    spoken in indoor voices,
    kept safely between hymns
    and handshakes.

    They told us
    Sabbath was a soft thing,
    a nap for the soul,
    a gentle pause
    before returning
    to the holy machinery
    of earning, buying, proving, becoming.

    But Sabbath was never safe.

    Sabbath is a wrench
    thrown into Pharaoh’s gears.
    A door barred against the market.
    A candle lit
    in defiance of the floodlights.
    A refusal
    to kneel before the stopwatch.
    A holy no
    rising like thunder
    from tired bones.

    Six days, they say,
    you shall labor.
    And the seventh?
    The seventh is mutiny.

    The seventh day
    the fields are not your masters.
    The ledgers do not own your name.
    The inbox may howl
    like a beast outside the gate,
    but you will not feed it.
    The empire counts bricks.
    Sabbath counts blessings.
    The empire demands output.
    Sabbath gathers manna
    and says, enough.

    Enough for today.
    Enough for this body.
    Enough for this earth.
    Enough for a life
    that was never meant
    to be fed into furnaces
    just to keep the towers warm.

    Sabbath is not laziness.
    It is revolt
    with bread on the table.
    It is trust
    with dirt under the fingernails.
    It is the slave
    remembering he is human.
    The widow
    remembering she is seen.
    The ox
    remembering grass.
    The land
    remembering how to breathe.

    And maybe that is why
    they sabotage Sabbath.

    Because rest breaks rank.
    Because silence interrupts slogans.
    Because delight cannot be monetized forever.
    Because a people
    who learn to stop
    may also learn
    they can refuse.

    Refuse the lie
    that worth is measured in production.
    Refuse the sermon
    of profit without mercy.
    Refuse the fear
    that if we cease for one day
    the world will fall apart—
    as though we were the ones
    holding up the stars.

    No.
    Sabbath is the admission
    that we are not God,
    and the miracle
    that God is still good.

    So let the engines choke.
    Let the schedules stutter.
    Let the tyrants call it weakness.
    Let the anxious call it waste.
    Let the merchants stand bewildered
    before shuttered stalls
    and unhurried hearts.

    For this is the sabotage:
    to rest in a restless world,
    to feast in a famine of joy,
    to loosen your fist
    when all of history
    has trained it to clench.

    To stop.
    To breathe.
    To bless.
    To remember
    that we were not made
    for endless extraction,
    but for communion—
    with God,
    with neighbor,
    with creature,
    with soil,
    with our own forgotten souls.

    And so, on the seventh day,
    we commit our small rebellion:
    we light candles against consumption,
    set tables against despair,
    sing psalms against the grind,
    and call this shattered life
    still sacred.

    This is no small thing.
    This is how the kingdom enters:
    not always with trumpets,
    but with napping children,
    unbought hours,
    shared bread,
    and a people audacious enough
    to believe
    that the world can turn
    without their frantic striving.

    Blessed are the saboteurs of empire.
    Blessed are the keepers of Sabbath.
    Blessed are the tired
    who lay their burden down
    and find, beneath the weight of all they carried,
    a joy the masters could not confiscate.

    For every Sabbath kept
    is a crack in the idol.
    Every prayer whispered at rest
    is a seed beneath the pavement.
    Every holy pause
    is a hammer blow
    against the myth
    that Caesar owns time.

    He does not.
    The clock does not.
    The market does not.

    Time belongs to God.
    And God,
    in mercy,
    has given some of it back to us.


    #AntiWar #biblicalImagination #ChristianPoetry #ChristianReflection #empireCritique #faithAndJustice #holyResistance #Nonviolence #peace #peaceWitness #propheticImagination #propheticPoetry #resistanceToEmpire #restAsRebellion #Sabbath #SabbathAsResistance #SabbathRest #SabbathSabotage #sacredRest #spiritualResistance #SpokenWord #steampunkArt #symbolicArt #theologyOfRest #warMachine
  16. Remembering the lives marked by war — and the systems that keep demanding more of them.
    Peace is not an endpoint.
    It’s how we choose to care in the midst of harm.
    May we keep practising, together.

    #RemembranceDay #Peace #Nonviolence #CollectiveCare #EcologicalPeace #TraumaAware #LifeboatAcademy #Farmastery

  17. Dinner at Glasgow’s finest vegan establishment 🕶️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🌱

    1: Haggis & rooster mash cakes, deep fried & served with chestnut mushroom ragout & green peppercorn yogurt 😍

    2: If you have to ask … 😏

    #Haggis #DeepFried #Restaurant #Scotland #ScottishFood #DineIn #Glasgow #Cafe #AlFresco #OutdoorDining #Patio #Pizza #UKFood #Cooking #VeganCooking #Food #FoodPorn #Vegan #VeganFood #Veggie #Vegetarian #DairyFree #EggFree #EcoFriendly #Eco #LowCarbon #WhatVegansEat #Veganism #PlantBased #NonViolence

  18. Opinions

    They stare at me, scowling,

    as I state my opinion.

    Are they right? No.

    Is their opinion greater than mine? No.

    We all see in a different light.

    So why do I feel like I am

    wrong, tremble, and am still,

    rather than hear their

    contrary view?

    I will speak

    and so will they

    and together we will

    realize the brighter day.

    May 8, 1985

    #1985 #1985Poetry #brighterDay #ConflictTransformation #Courage #Dialogue #differingOpinions #disagreement #empathy #findingCommonGround #FreedomOfExpression #Hope #Listening #Nonviolence #Peacebuilding #personalWriting #perspective #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Poetry #reflection #respectfulDialogue #speakingUp #Understanding #Writing