JAIN DATABASE at sunsite.unc.edu
Jain Study Center of North Carolina
Federation of JAINA
Information/comments to: varia@med.unc.edu
============================================================================


************************************* nonviol1 (2/16/93) ***
   By: Amit Kamani, Jain Center of Central Florida
************************************************************

      THE EFFECTS OF NON-VIOLENCE ON HEALTH, WEALTH, AND PLANET EARTH

      Non-violence is the act of not using violence.  Mahatma Gandhi, the
      former leader of India used this method to gain independence from
      the British.  Mahatma Gandhi refused to use any acts of violence
      but, used the method of non-cooperation to frustrate the British
      into freeing India.  I will discuss the effects of non-violence on
      health, wealth, and planet earth in this essay.

      Non-violence affects health in such a way where lives can be saved.
      During wars many lives are lost-not only soldiers of the countries
      that are involved but, innocent bystanders as well.  War destroys
      countries and is not the way to deal with the political problems of
      the world.  Non-violence could bring countries together by
      discussing the problems instead of fighting to resolve the problem
      between two countries.  Too many people are losing their lives over
      war and non-violence can stop it.  Another effect of non-violence
      on health could well be the stress on a person during a violent
      act.  For example relatives and close friends of soldiers from
      different countries feeling the effects of their loved ones not
      making it back alive.  Non-violence could also stop racial tension
      between different races.  In gang fights innocent children are
      being killed and other young kids are throwing their lives away.


      If only these groups can make a non-violent effort to stop the
      tension between them, the killing and hurt would go away.  The gang
      members of today are the future of tomorrow.  We have to make sure
      that the children of today can live to tell their children about
      the challenges they faced as a child.

      The effects of non-violence on wealth are that money can be saved
      to help other causes.  Too much money is going towards building
      tanks, bombs, and other weapons for altercations with other
      countries.  There are situations in this country and around the
      world that can be helped with money.  For example here in Florida
      schools need money so children can have better tools for learning.
      In other countries money is needed for starving people.

      If this world could change to a non-violent world, fighting would
      stop and money saved from building arms can be used to solve
      problems in the world.  I think that the leaders of all the
      countries should talk about this problem and start thinking where
      money is needed the most here on planet earth.

      I now will discuss the effects of non-violence on planet earth.
      Just imagine that there was no tension between the countries of the
      world.  This would be hard to believe because every day there is
      some sort of tension between different nations and people.

      Non-violence could relieve the world of this tension.  The
      difference that non-violence would make on the world would be that
      countries would become closer and instead of having wars they could
      have peace talks.  There is also too much violence in the United
      States today.  Acts on non-violence could bring that to an end.  It
      is surprising how people use violence to get things that they want.
      The problem of drugs and violence in the United States is terrible.
      People are killing others for drugs.  Acts of non-violence could
      end this threat that is killing so many people.  In fact Dr.
      Martin Luther King followed the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and
      used non-violent acts to win freedom, liberty, and justice for the
      blacks in America.

      Planet earth would be a safer and less violent world if people and
      countries around the world followed non-violent methods to solve
      their problems.

      I think the message that Mahatma Gandhi was trying to get around to
      the rest of the world was that violence is not the way to get what
      you want.

      Amit Kamani
      Jain Society of Central Florida
      1689 Grange Circle
      Longwood, FL  32750
      (407) 260-6459

Disclaimer: The file contained in the box above or displayed in a separate window from a link in the box above is NOT owned nor implied to be owned by BeYoND THe iLLuSioN. Most files at BeYoND THe iLLuSioN are originally from public Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) which were popular in the days before the Internet or from gopher, web, and FTP sites from the early days of the Internet which no longer exist today. Essentially, all files were acquired from the public domain in one for or another.

However, there have been occasions when copyright protected material has appeared on BeYoND THe iLLuSIoN without permission of the copyright holder. In these instances, we have and will continue to remove the copyright protected file as soon as it is brought to our attention. This can now be done using our Report Copyright Material form. Fill out the form, and the webmaster will be notified of the situation.

There are also times when files found on BeYoND THe iLLuSioN have a real home somewhere else on the Internet. In these instances, we will gladly replace the file with a link to its true home whenever it is brought to our attention. If you know of the true home of any of these files, you can use our Report Original URL form to bring it yo our attention.