Don't Become a Monster in Order to Destroy a Monster

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Fight hatred with love
fight selfishness with altruism
fight prejudice with nonjudgement
fight jealousy with acceptance
fight condemnation with forgiveness.

Whatever is negative, meet it with an overwhelming amount of positive.

And you will ultimately be vindicated. :hug:


Thanks for asking the question - one that a lot of people don't care to ponder.
 
I've always wondered what exactly he meant by that, or if he even meant anything specific. Maybe he just started saying it and had to finish it?

I guess my personal interpretation would be, in the context of the ONE campaing, you shouldn't bicker about who's right and who's wrong and who's genuine or not as long as everyone is working together for ONE purpose. For example, I don't like Bush and I don't like a lot of people Bono "hangs out" with, but I'm not going to let that taint, in my mind, the message they're trying to communicate and the work they've all done for ONE cause.
 
I don't know if he uses it differently in other concerts, but from the Madrid Miss Sarejevo it's part of him dedicating the song to the then recent London bombings. In that context it's as clear as day - Terrorism is the monster. Don't go so far to defeat it that you become a monster yourself. Look at the recent arguments over the use of torture and whether it's justified as an example.
 
And I say look at the violent measures are always taken to protect free society even when we don't see them or demand them, The quote attributed to Orwell of "People sleep peaceably in their bed at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf" is as true today as it was then, it may be a terrible and nasty business but it gets done, we don't need to become monsters at all, we have always been able to do whatever was neccessary to protect our own interests.

Targeted assassination of terrorists is just as ugly as torture but you will not hear nearly as much opposition to it from the people. I do wonder why that is.
 
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I was watching the show The District today on USA channel. Ricky - a kid whose mother was killed early in the show's history - threw a rock in another kid's house because that other kid had thrown a rock at Ricky's window. His aunt was trying to tell him that this was not acceptable behavior.
You can't punch someone back for punching you when you're in school.
You can't beat someone up for beating you up.
You can't murder someone because they murdered - capital punishment is not what i'm talking about.
But, you can go to war with a country because someone in that country did an awful thing.
This quote kinda relates

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?
Blaise Pascal
 
I think that if somebody initiates violence against you then you are well within your rights to respond in kind, if somebody punches me I am entitled to defend myself with reasonable force.

You can kill somebody (in specific circumstances) if they are going to kill you.

I do not think that self-defence is morally wrong, it should be a human right. But your instances (except for punching back) are all after the fact and in my opinion are punitive measures.
 
Jamila said:

Whatever is negative, meet it with an overwhelming amount of positive.
And you will ultimately be vindicated

That's such a lovely thought and hopefully it is ultimately always true..but it hurts like hell to live that way and it's so difficult, especially when you're a sensitive person who is easily hurt. It is so tempting to want to lash out at people who are hurting you. It's a fine line sometimes between not becoming the monster and becoming a doormat. How much hurt should you have to take from people?
 
I'm sure when the civil rights activists were being hosed down, or attacked by dogs, they must've been wondering the same....it takes great courage - in all circumstances - to not answer the call for revenge of any kind
 
It consumes much more energy to focus on or act on negativity....therefore I try to turn the negative to a positive. Plus, it makes me feel healthier and smile more. It's catchy.
 
Jamila said:
Fight hatred with love
fight selfishness with altruism
fight prejudice with nonjudgement
fight jealousy with acceptance
fight condemnation with forgiveness.

Whatever is negative, meet it with an overwhelming amount of positive.

And you will ultimately be vindicated. :hug:


Thanks for asking the question - one that a lot of people don't care to ponder.



This is beautiful. Thank you, wonderful thought for the day I plan to share with my kids and others.
 
Thank you, my friends, for your very kind words about what were my first thoughts in response to Bono's phrase.

It was a blend of ideas from St. Francis's Prayer and a quotation from Dr. MLK Jr that I heard a long time ago. (and where I bet Bono got the foundation for his phrase)

King's quote was something like "Don't let anyone bring you down to their level to hate others".

In other words, don't become the monster in order to defeat the monster.

THE MONSTER EITHER LIVES IN OUR HEARTS.... OR NOT.

Take good care.:hug:
 
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