You are right, Kid, to be exasperated with the frequent violent news in the media. This is a sign of hope in a world where violence is too often taken for granted. You will note that it?s when news become most horrifying that they command some compassionate reaction. Unfortunately, the horrors of yesterday are rapidly overshadowed by today?s terrible events.

It seems we have difficulty in making the difference between people?s real pain and misfortunes in fiction. This is why I strongly believe that the ongoing exposure to violence on TV, be it in films or video clips, contributes to our attitude of immunity towards real violence, unless we come to experience its painful bite. Then, we wake up with a sentiment of revolt against humanity?s careless attitude towards this evil, that disfigures our society.

You will note that, in movies, the brave and strong use as much violence as the villains, the only difference is that their revenge is more effective. How can we conceive adhering to non-violent methods to solve conflicts when we are constantly fed with the efficiency of violent solutions?

Yes, violence has never been a solution. Violence can only reap violence like a never-ending curse. In contrast with animals, human beings are made for cooperation and negotiation: this is why we are endowed with the gift of language. We are born with the divine light of peace and love which shines in the smile ? a sign of hostility in some animals. When a beast shows its teeth, one should beware!

History has proven non-violent methods to be very effective in solving highly delicate, complicated and important issues. While we now take our rights for granted, it was not always the case. Until the 1960s, it was inconceivable that a coloured person could enjoy the same rights as his white counterpart in the powerful United States of America.

Being a non-white, can you imagine being legally bound to give up your seat to a white person in the bus? This was common practice until Rosa Parks, a coloured seamstress, refused to leave her seat to a white man. She was arrested by the police for her action.

Instead of reacting violently against this unfair arrest and practice coloured Americans, led by Rev. Martin Luther King, stopped using this bus service. This non-violent boycott, which lasted more than one year, led to the desegregation of public transport!

Champion of non-violent resistance, Martin Luther King significantly contributed changing America?s unfair ways of treating its coloured citizens. Thanks to his non-violent crusades the ?Civil Rights Act? and the ?Voting Act? were adopted.

Martin Luther King believed active non-violent actions such as boycotts of unjust laws and peaceful marches against injustice were more effective than violent retaliations against unfair treatment.

He taught his followers to hate the evil ways and not the persons who were the evil-doers. He rightly argued that non-violence aims at winning the friendship and cooperation of opponents rather than their defeat and humiliation, its final aim being human brotherhood based on reconciliation and love. His refusal of violence earned him the Nobel peace prize in 1964.

Martin Luther King non violently led his people to the promised land of a more equitable US though he died at the ?mountain top? gunned down by a presumed segregationist who did not like his efficiency.

It?s a pity such characters are not revered as role models and heroes nowadays. Though in America, the 3rd Monday in January is a national holiday in tribute to Martin Luther King, born on 15 January 1929, the international media does not talk much about him, not even in January.

Yet, remembering such non-violent heroes may surely ring a bell in the minds of the many people who believe in violence. Please don?t forget him, especially in January. Like him, dare to dream of a better world, free from the evils of injustice and violence. This starts by recognizing them as evils fit for disgust, that same feeling which triggered your exasperation in front of the frequently violent news in the media?

Alain JEANNOT