love those who persecute you
For a long time I have struggled with the concept of being a pacifist and being a victim of sexual assault. It is difficult for others to understand the shame that goes along with being abused in such an intimate way. And yet, I know that I am called to follow Jesus and to love as he loved all the time. In my struggling with this issue I have come to realize that there is no situation, no matter how complex or violent, in which Jesus would justify putting myself and my safety, or even the safety of my loved ones, above his love for the attacker.
However, this evening I found myself at the Self-Defense class for Take Back the Night. I wasn’t quite certain why I went. I am on the Take Back the Night Coordinating Coalition, and maybe I felt it was my responsibility to attend some of the events my team members worked so hard to plan. However, when the instructor asked us to reflect on why we were there, the word empowerment came to mind. “I’m here to empower victims” is what I thought. That somehow, by teaching strategies of protection we can empower people to realize that they have some control, even if in my case I may believe in not using.
It’s difficult to hold that stance, and as I began to recognize the shaky theological ground I stepping on, the instructor interrupted my thoughts.
“Aikido is about protecting yourself and protecting your attacker…. It is about changing the situation from one of conflict” she said. And all of a sudden my fears were released. As a pacifist this is something I can invest in. An art that works at dissolving conflict, not a violent self-defense, but a non-violent practice that actually aims to “protect” the opponent.
And as the room full of women began to practice strategies of dissolving conflict by staying calm and changing the power dynamics by focusing on what was in our control, I realized that empowerment is one of the core pacifist ideals. Gandhi and Martin Luther King talked about how non-violence wasn’t non-action, but that it was an extremely powerful tool used to win over our opponent and not defeat them. Empowerment is about realizing that we don’t have to play the role of the victim and that we can control the situation for the benefit of both us and our attacker.
By practicing and learning Aikido, I feel as if I am adding some physical tools to my non-violent tool box. Along with the skills of mediation and conflict resolution, learning how to dissolve a violent attack without aiming to hurt the other person is a technique I believe Jesus wants us to learn. Jesus never asked us to be helpless, but instead to love our enemies with all our power. And that includes loving them enough to stop them from hurting others.
However, this evening I found myself at the Self-Defense class for Take Back the Night. I wasn’t quite certain why I went. I am on the Take Back the Night Coordinating Coalition, and maybe I felt it was my responsibility to attend some of the events my team members worked so hard to plan. However, when the instructor asked us to reflect on why we were there, the word empowerment came to mind. “I’m here to empower victims” is what I thought. That somehow, by teaching strategies of protection we can empower people to realize that they have some control, even if in my case I may believe in not using.
It’s difficult to hold that stance, and as I began to recognize the shaky theological ground I stepping on, the instructor interrupted my thoughts.
“Aikido is about protecting yourself and protecting your attacker…. It is about changing the situation from one of conflict” she said. And all of a sudden my fears were released. As a pacifist this is something I can invest in. An art that works at dissolving conflict, not a violent self-defense, but a non-violent practice that actually aims to “protect” the opponent.
And as the room full of women began to practice strategies of dissolving conflict by staying calm and changing the power dynamics by focusing on what was in our control, I realized that empowerment is one of the core pacifist ideals. Gandhi and Martin Luther King talked about how non-violence wasn’t non-action, but that it was an extremely powerful tool used to win over our opponent and not defeat them. Empowerment is about realizing that we don’t have to play the role of the victim and that we can control the situation for the benefit of both us and our attacker.
By practicing and learning Aikido, I feel as if I am adding some physical tools to my non-violent tool box. Along with the skills of mediation and conflict resolution, learning how to dissolve a violent attack without aiming to hurt the other person is a technique I believe Jesus wants us to learn. Jesus never asked us to be helpless, but instead to love our enemies with all our power. And that includes loving them enough to stop them from hurting others.
Comments
Post a Comment