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Encore Issues | PW | PC(USA) |
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Breaking the Cycle of Violence: by Ingrid Christiansen There is probably no one among us who does not hope for peace. We address one another on Sunday mornings with “Peace be with you.” We use the word peace when we greet each other, when we close a letter or email, and when we say good-bye. We hope for peace in our later years and we rejoice when we find ourselves in a peaceful place during a vacation. What is it that seems to make peace so elusive for us? And why is it so common to invoke and long for something that should be so easy to come by—cessation of frenetic activity, an absence of violence and the presence of goodwill in our communities locally, nationally and globally?
When I was growing up, my parents did not hit us or even yell at us—their five children. I imagined all households were that way. No one in my neighborhood modeled any behavior that taught us to solve problems with force. I imagined the world to be a fair and kind place. However, every day in my work, I see the failure of the world to be fair and kind. I am a capital mitigation specialist, doing the sentencing work for persons facing the death penalty. My job is to learn the story of the defendant’s life so that I can explain to a judge and jury the history behind why the man or woman committed this terrible crime. I see the outcome of violence—and the causes of it—in our communities every day.
Learn more about how persons in prison for violence are being helped in the full text of this article in the July/August 2005 issue of Horizons. Call 800/524-2612 |
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