„Terrible always – even in just cause, is violence.“
Friedrich Schiller (1759 – 1805)
Explanation of principle 3:
Rejection of all forms of violence and crime is one of the most essential building blocks of a social community.
In the more than 15 million years of human history, we have not yet managed to live in peace with each other, nor to provide equal educational and development opportunities for all people, nor to prevent violence and crime. Every day, many thousands of people die on this planet from physical and psychological violence or simply through failure to help – if you think here, for example, of the children who starve to death every day in the third world. In this world, people are abducted and enslaved every day, starting from childhood. Then they are forced to do things we don’t even remotely want to imagine. It is difficult to write this down here, but it is unavoidable to mention it in this context and unfortunately it is the bitterest truth.
Even though statistics want to tell us again and again that violence in Germany is decreasing more and more, we often perceive this completely differently in society. Violence and the propensity to violence are omnipresent in schools, and bullying is one of the top issues that can hardly be controlled. Religions and cultures clash, each trying to stake out its territory and defend it by any means necessary. In our schools, children are more and more ripped off, bullied, frightened and terrorized and teachers are mostly powerless against these realities.
Outside of schools, people are being kicked off subway stairs, sexually harassed with increasing frequency, beaten to death at fairs, or run over by trucks. People are threatened and intimidated and highly criminal structures are negated by the state for far too long. This absolutely has to change.
But who is behind these destructive and disruptive structures? Which people spread fear, glorify violence and crime?
The answer is always the people who have experienced these things themselves throughout their lives. Be it on the part of parents, through siblings or friends.
Lack of social behavior in the immediate vicinity of peopleChildren are the main causes of the multiplication of violence and crime. In this matter, it is imperative that we act quickly and break through old structures with new thinking. Children need to be introduced to proper behavior and understand contexts or all the consequences that „non-social“ actions trigger, even in the long run.
Teaching content on Principle 3 could be:
- Bullying is physical violence. What damage does it do?
- Difference psychological and physical violence?
- Exclusions of others, good for whom and bad for whom?
- Exploitation of others, what is that?
- No more fights, how does that work?
- Listening to your gut – if you feel uncomfortable, just walk away
- Recognize crime and turn away
- Bad and good character, what is it?
- Can I defend myself if I am beaten?
- Do I help others when they are attacked?
- I have criminal friends. But they are my friends, what do I do?
- What can I do to protect myself against physical violence?
- How can I make myself stronger? (phyical and psychical)
- How do I find my Ikigai?
- Learn to meditate
The five sobe5 principles are:
- Do not harm yourself or others
- Always be helpful and good
- Stay away from violence and crime
- Respect and d protect our environment
- Make yourself better today than you were yesterday