Everything in the news these days seems to be about violence, how violent society has become, how dangerous we are going to be someday. Look at the front page of any major daily newspaper and you can see dozens of articles littered across the paper about the latest rapes, murders, and assaults. Many would have us believe that death and misery are the current and future conditions of humanity. But I think we all need to question whether this is an accurate reflection. Have we recently become a more violent society, or do we just take more notice of it now? With the constant cavalcade of crime re-creation television shows, the evening news, and, of course, the never-ending parade of "movies-of-the-week" (maybe they should call it "murder of the week" or "maiming of the week"), it's hard to say whether or not we are headed for a fall. The Mongol Horde, Waterloo, and the death of Caesar all happened before "20/20," Newsweek and Time. Just try and imagine the uproar from a headline stating "HEAD OF STATE VICIOUSLY STABBED BY COWORKERS." What would people have said back then? Of course, we shouldn't ignore the world around us, but just because a few people say we're all headed for self-inflicted extinction doesn't mean we should stop trying to end violence. It's simply another obstacle to work around on the path to peace. ?