REPLY TO ABOVE

Dear Student,

We have made a fetish of non-violence these days but we should not forget that violence or at least anger is one essential feature of human nature. We can does away with it only by denying our nature free expression. You know when men get angry much more than temper is lost, although what precisely is the additional loss has not yet been worked out in detail. This is probably because different men in fury react differently. Some go to places, being unable to contain themselves; some go mute, some wastefully and often futilely vociferous; others grow violent, and sometimes pitiably aggressive. The scowl the red face and the knitted brow typify the angry man as much as the stammer, dilated eyes, bouncing heart working nostril and trembling hands. These are the commoner symptoms of a rush of adrenalin, which may lead to active violence. A contrast is provided by the cold, calculating, eye flashing fury of the strong, silent type which is a rare and a fascinating thing to behold. May I quote an instance. The other day in an English town a motorist happened gently to bump into the rear wheels of a postman’s bicycle. The later calmly got down from his vehicle inspected the damage and, speaking not a single word, kicked in the head lamps of the car. The motorist, equally calmly and as the tight lipperd got out inspected the damage and jumped on the bicycle’s rear wheel. The cyclist than smashed the car spot light, whereupon the motorist picked up the cycle and threw it down with a bang. Having got back into the car he was about to drive away when the cyclist took out his pump and smashed the windscreen. It is said neither spoke a word in the entire course of this exchange. That is the puzzling thing about the story. That and the fact that neither had the guts or the folly to assault the their physically, both retaining their wits to restrict themselves to assault on property. Perhaps this is a higher order of indignation, the spoken world being the usual means of working it out of the system. How much more useful it would be, if present-day politicians take a cue from this incident and initiate a new theory of non-violent violence.

Yours sincerely,

Professor.