This is an excellent post... about a topic I believe we should be paying far more attention to... under the greater story arc of "How DO we create a better world for us all to live in?

So going to resteem this for visibility. I agree with @tarazkp, this IS what should be on the Trending page.

In some sense, I may always have been a pacifist of sorts... it feels like an inherent part of my core sense of self that I just can't wrap myself around the need to "problem solve" through violence rather than through dialogue. And that means anything from people who'd rather punch someone in the nose than talk to them... to outright war.

To wrap a little frame of reference around my early leanings... already at age 14 I was already 6'3" and near 200lbs and an athlete, so I wasn't some "skinny little nerd" who got picked on.

I have always thought war to be a stupid waste of life. Even as an idealistic 16-year old I felt that those "stooopid politicians" who wanted wars and sent innocent young men into harm's way should be forced to fight their own battles in hand-to-hand combat in cage matches. YOU wanted this dispute... YOU be front and center, seeing the whites of your adversary's eyes. Of course, it's a naive perspective as we had just as many wars when kings rode into battle at the HEAD of their armies.

Perhaps the most moving and profoundly sad experience I have ever had was visiting the American Cemetery in Normandy, France... and looking out across a field of white crosses so vast the mind boggles; we "honor" their sacrifice and yet, I was never able to detach myself from the thought of what might have happened had none of these individuals agreed to fight, in service of someone else's political ideas and agendas? Who would Hitler have been, had nobody been willing to fight?

Anyway, I have also long been intrigued by NVC and how it might be used to address many of the issues in the world. Of course, many voices rise and say "Oh, that would never work!" going back to the same old pattern of "I'd rather whack someone in the head with a piece of 2x4 than talk to them." When I read the NVC book (2003-ish?) it opened new doors of possibilty.

The challenge/difficulty in implementing what you're suggesting is that those who end up in (or choose) the are also more likely to be those who like structure, rigidity, knownness... and are more likely to accept "just taking orders" as an acceptable thing. The armed forces are hardly likely to be the hotbed of freethinking activists. I don't say that to let anyone "off the hook," just adding it as an observation.

And so, we return to this mysterious part of the human condition, this "need(?)" to unite behind some cause that seemingly requires us to silence, squash or even terminate anyone who does not stand WITH our ideal. It is-- to me-- the greatest mystery of humanity: Not why we want to "have things our way" but why so many seem compelled by the idea that "having things my way" is only legitimate if it simultaneously involves denying others the right to have things THEIR way. People want a bigger sandbox not because they NEED one, but because they can't stand the idea that someone else's is larger. Human greed; human foibles.

"At what point do we move beyond violence?" you ask... and I often ponder that. and I find myself pondering if part of our problem is the exponential way in which our emotional/psychological evolution has moved... and perhaps has gotten ahead the evolution of our biological imperatives ("Threat... pick up club, smash on head"). We're stuggling to adapt to the situations we are creating, faster than our DNA can respond...