Everything lives in a context

Context means the container that holds the text. 

Context is like a series of concentric circles within concentric circles, like a bull’s eye used in archery.

The immediate context is held in a context that creates the conditions for that immediate context.

To discern, judge, or access a situation, we must also know the context. 

When a terrible violence happens, we can focus on the terrible violence and make everything that comes after that violence justified, including amplified violence.

This perspective is partial and limited. It negates the context. 

Any form of violence is almost always an immature response to conflict. Sanctioning ongoing violence, also called vengeance, continues the immaturity. 

Understanding context, the field and substrate from which someone or people believe violence is a response, is critical, particularly if we seek to end violence.

The violence can be with weapons, words, deeds, or writ in law.

To seek to understand context is to privilege respect to the other. It takes maturity, love, and an honest desire to find a pathway forward that refuses violence as a solution.

Photo Taken April 21st 2024