It’s time to shift our energies towards more positive occurrences

In the newspapers, we have so many stories to do with some form of violence.

The ICC case was about post-election violence, so was the Village Market saga and the woman in Nyeri who beat up her husband for selling the family radio.

Times Magazine person of the year for 2011 was a “Protestor” inspired by the Arab Springs where so much violence was unleashed to oust dictators in various countries.

The Arab Springs were inspired by a hawker in Tunisia named Boazizi who burnt himself to death over humiliation by municipal workers.

Last week, the Egyptians were back to Tahir square to celebrate one year since they set their foot in the same place where they successfully demanded for the then President Mubarak to step down.

This year, we have seen violence in Nigeria following the removal of fuel subsidies.

I wondered why violence is so newsworthy. It reminds of the old adage, if a dog bites man that is not news, but if a man bites a dog that is news.
The world has been getting less violent over the years. According to an article on the January issue of the Readers Digest, centuries ago the chance of death by violence in tribal and feudal conflicts was as high as 60 per cent.

Today, that chance is less than 0.5 per cent as the World Health Organisation statistics indicate.

Driving positive attitudes

In the article titled, 2011 was it really that bad? The author Mark Stevenson suggests that many years ago, violence was what you did over the weekend.

We can say that if violence was as common place as it used to be it couldn’t have been anywhere in the news.

As interdependence gains currency and the world develops, it becomes clear that the other person is more valuable alive than dead. Mark is also the author of the book An Optimist Tour of the Future. Read the book for more optimistic perspectives to the future.

With all the negativity in the news all is not lost and everyone needs some positive energy.

One of the emerging leadership practices is the use of positive enquiry. Positive enquiry is an approach that turns problem-solving on its head.

Instead of seeking to find out what is not working you find out what is working.