"Violence in a house," the rabbis say, "is like a worm in fruit." It destroys what otherwise looks healthy and firm and good but which is harboring within it the cause of its own decline. Violence is eating the heart right out of this country — in private homes and police stations, in personal relationships, playgrounds and public policies. Violence is our national disease. Walking gently through life is our only real hope of gentling the world.

Joan Chittister, In the Heart of the Temple