Making the World a Better Place

One of my favorite people is Marshall Rosenberg. He is an advocate of Non-Violent Communication. His motto is, "Don't do anything that isn't play!" He says nobody can get their own needs met at the expense of anybody else's, because there will always be consequences to pay, therefore it is in everyone's best interest to be concerned about other people's needs, too. And he has developed a system of interaction that he calls Non-Violent Communication, that is designed to teach people how to collaborate and strategize to insure everyone's needs are met. Before this can happen, it is important to understand how we got into the mess we are in.

Our current habitual style of interacting evolved from a time when there were kingdoms and serfs. In order to make sure serfs worked hard, the kings needed to make them feel guilty, so they shamed them and told them they deserved their place in life. The serfs turned around and did the same thing to their children. So now everyone is vacillating back and forth from judging others and blaming them, to feeling guilty and ashamed about who they are and what they've done. Until we learn a new way of communicating, everyone who isn't getting their needs met, will be looking to blame somebody, be it the elite or the jews or the gentiles or the moslems or the congress or (whoever) for the worlds problems, instead of solving the problems. It is much easier to cast blame than to solve problems.

Students and Masters of Non-Violent Communication trust in the fundamental belief that all sentient beings want to be happy and feel comfortable. And if everyone can learn how to communicate in a way that will enable us to strategize and get all our needs met, the world will be a much more happy and peaceful place to live. But most people are so habituated to blaming and judging others, and/or themselves, that they've never been fully aware of their own feelings and needs. Some people even think it is a sign of weakness to acknowledge most of their feelings, except happiness and anger.