I still remember that day when I got into a brutal fight with one of my friends, and the scar on my elbow still tickles my blood inside.

We both were swollen, our noses red. All of this, just for a game of football! I wanted to play football, whereas he wanted to play basketball.

It never fails to surprise me, the way our communities function! It takes a lot to bind a group of people together and establish a successful community. Every person has a different set of characteristics, including a unique thought process. Everyone has his or her own meaning of success; developmental goals are different for everyone and can be conflicting at times.

A poor farmer, for example, considers a good price for his crop as development, whereas traders want the same crop at cheaper prices! I think these conflicting goals and opinions are a key to violence. These differences in thoughts create hatred and coldness among people.

Thus, to prevent this violence, my community tries to unify the differences and those yarns of thoughts and sew them into a colorful, united fabric of peace and fraternity!

India, gifted with a diverse set of cultures, has communities bonded together with various religious sentiments and a common spiritual goal. The church has the Bible, the mosque has the holy Quran, and the Hindus are connected to the Vedas.

"Influence" is the major force that drives my community and the others together. We all have common beliefs. Our day-to-day behavior and decisions are somewhat influenced by the holy stories of our community. The common way of living and similar lifestyle also help a community to exist.

I think community is like a spiritual ecosystem where people and their beliefs interact with each other. Another major way that has been useful to terminate communal violence is the use of ideas like democracy and accommodation. In my community and in many other communities, powers have been decentralized, and no one can dominate among the members of the community.

Apart from individual contributions, the country itself has done a lot for ensuring stability and peace among communities and ultimately among individuals!

The political core, the Indian Constitution, has provided us with the very liberty to follow any religion or even not to follow any. I believe this principle is one of the major ways in which violence is prevented among communities.

So, to conclude, there is no "absolute" way that has helped my community prevent violence. On the contrary, it is the people themselves who have been carrying the unity forward. Common beliefs and influences have bound people and their thoughts together. This has ensured peace among the community and ultimately peace among the country! It seems people are the power in my community; they have made the rules and sometimes amended them. The freedom to express feelings, emotions, ideas, etc. has been a great way to terminate violence as well.

Beliefs are the foundation of a communities' existence. Communities will continue to exist as long as beliefs do!