Nonviolence believes that each person is born neither essentially good nor essentially bad, but with capacity to do (and thus be) both good and bad. Each person has the responsibility to choose between the two. Nonviolence puts the emphasis on the individual’s choice and sees life as an opportunity to make millions of choices, which we make annually, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, minute by minute and practically every second.

Nonviolence calls us to choose our thoughts, feelings and actions. We can choose sympathy, compassion and giving, or we can choose selfishness, greed and taking. The choice belongs to each of us.