I am living in hell from one day to the next. But there is nothing I can do to escape … I feel utterly powerless, and that feeling is my prison. I entered of my own free will, I locked the door, and I threw away the key. ― Haruki Murakami

Unwanted and unwarranted violence is not conducive to our physical, mental, and spiritual health and well-being. Whilst violence sometimes works to our benefit it’s rarely in our best interest. We sometimes require 'violence' to grab a child from a charging animal or oncoming traffic. Chickens need perseverance and sometimes violence to break free of their eggs. A sneeze can be violent. Surgery can be violent. Under certain circumstances violence is necessary for us to free ourselves from extreme situations. Although violence can be tolerated and thought of as a last resort, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it has to be a first resort. Armed with the skill of effective communication, more often than not, we can avoid violence. Over time, our humanity may provoke us to try to reduce intentional violence; that violence used for the purpose of harming. We may never get rid of it, but we can certainly make life more enjoyable by diminishing such violence.

As long as people use violence to combat violence, we will always have violence. — Michael Berg