Page 28 - Non-violence and peace-building

Nature’s Lessons for Conflict Avoidance

rear door. In this way, they save themselves from
their enemies.
These diverse methods of protection that Nature
has schooled animals in hold important lessons for
humans. For humans, too, the best policy to adopt vis-
à-vis their opponents is to save themselves from directly
clashing with them, and, instead, to try to move ahead
by avoiding confrontation. Your opponent should not
get the opportunity to feel that you are interfering in
his domain. If you happen to confront your opponent,
you should appear to be inactive, saving oneself from
his aggression. Or, you should keep yourself carefully
confined to your own domain, and, in this way, convince
your opponent that you will not cause him any harm.
Along with this, you should also adopt measures that
will enable you to foil your opponent’s aggressive plans
in a possible emergency situation.

Animals did not invent these above-cited methods
of protection by themselves. It was God who taught
these to them. These methods have divine sanction.
They are not a form or expression of cowardice. Rather,
they indicate a very necessary pragmatism. They teach
us humans that we, too, should avoid unnecessary
confrontation with others, and, instead, should focus
on our own growth.
Some animals roam about in search of fodder; others
in search of their mates. Some busily run around
building their houses. Some hunt for food for their
babies. While engaged in these and other such tasks,
they may suddenly confront an enemy. If they enter into
a fight with them, the work that they had set out to do

27