An Essay against violence

Violence is a terrible thing that is looked upon too lightly in our world. It is too easily joked about, talked about, and too easily committed without a second thought.

According to data compiled in 2002 by the World Health Organization, approximately 830,000 people die yearly from violence inflicted on them by others. The World Health Organization estimates that in the year 2000, 520,000 people were murdered around the world, and 310,000 people were killed in wars. The 2002 report by the World Health Organization estimates that 191,000,000 were killed in war during the course of the 20th century.

This data is out of date, and unfortunately, the numbers have gone in the wrong direction. The UN estimated in 2006, that at least 400,000 people had died in the Dar fur conflicts alone. 2006 was 4 years ago now, and the numbers have surely gone up from there. The religious conflicts in the Middle East have further raised the death toll in recent years.

Some of these numbers I have mentioned previously may seem small, or maybe simply statistics. Here are some statistics that might help you put it into perspective.


o As I mentioned above, an estimated 830,000 people were killed in violence during the year 2000.
o An estimated 191,000,000 people died in wars during the 20th century.
o 95,000- The capacity of the FNB Stadium, where the 2010 world cup Finals were held.
o 42,000- The average number of people killed in car accidents every year.
o 135,000- The number of people employed by Microsoft in 2010
o 57,000,000- The estimated number of people that die each year.


The number of deaths due to violence may seem somewhat insignificant compared to each year’s total deaths. However, that is only a number that is directly related to violence. How many people have been indirectly killed? How many people die of starvation because the countries of the world are more focused on killing each other than saving their own people? How many people will die from the cancer caused by manufacturing nuclear arms?

The world spends an estimated $1.5 trillion yearly on the military. If this money was turned towards other things, such as medical research, could we have found a cure for cancer by now? How many starving people could we feed with one year’s worth of the world’s military spending? War is more detrimental to the world than we might think.

 If 57 million people die each year, whats a few more? The point is that violence is one of the easiest killers to stop. It certainly takes more effort to make war or an act of violence then not to. You might say that peace is not possible, since you cannot just stand by and let someone destroy everything you know. However, if no one waged war, if no one killed, then it would work. If no one made war, then it wouldn’t be necessary for anyone to make war back.

Violence is completely unnecessary. Peace has to start with someone. It takes two to fight. Don’t start a war, and you won’t have a war.

Works cited.

* World Health Organization
* Answers.com-http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_have_been_killed_or_died_...
* http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_employees_work_at_Microsoft_worl...





A short note from the author.
My purpose in writing this document is to spread this protest against violence. I allow this to be distributed, unaltered, anywhere and in any way that the distributor sees fit.
--Austin Joseph.