Violence is rooted in shame, K. Louise Schmidt writes in To Live in Peace: A Handbook for the Heart — Nonviolent Approaches for Families and Communities (Argenta, British Columbia: Nonviolence Resource Centre, 1994). At the center of violence is shame founded in experiences of rejection, judgment, projection, and the loss of self-respect.

Nonviolence transforms shame by affirming the life of every individual and the right of each of us to a dignified life. It is thus a process of healing and recovering from this deep-seated shame.

How can we do this? How can we be nonviolent in the manner of Albert Camus, who called us to be “neither a victim nor an executioner”? For a clue, let us look at “the two hands of nonviolence.”