Ghandi: Lessons to Learn

Our history is filled with much sadness and few beacons of hope that had continually influenced some of us throughout the ages. While when we look at history and we see the destruction we have caused in the world, we also see some examples that can influence us to make this world a better place. Maybe I am an idealist, which can be a joke sometimes since I am known to be a pessimist.

However, I think when I see examples such as Ghandi, I really believe that we can be better and we can achieve great things in life. Ghandi or Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi is the father of India. He is one of the most influential and spiritual leaders of the 21st century.

Ghandi was a simple man who saw grave injustice and prejudice in the world. However, unlike many of us, he refused to just let this go by and he decided to take action against first in South Africa and then later in India. He saw that life can not go on when a man looks down upon another man just because of a class, race, color or religion difference.

Furthermore, he believed in the freedom and the integrity of his own country. However, he did not believe in violence and therefore he chose peaceful resistance and non-cooperation against the British. He wanted to show the British the injustice they invoke on the Indians and thereby killing them with kindness. Due to his studies in theology in the teaching of Hinduism,Christianity,Islam, and Buddhism he wanted to show that it is very easy to destruct something but it is more difficult to construct or create.

He wanted to humiliate the British by showing them the horribleness of what they are doing to free people who are simply trying to live. But he fought violence vehemently. He did not want to build freedom on the corpses of the dead and please let us learn from that because freedom does not come with violence. He believed that the true evil is inside of us and it is only our inner demons and insecurities that are destroying the others.

Ghandi was also a very simple man. He made his own clothes and refused any unnecessary possessions in life. He almost walked everywhere using his little cane . He reserved one day of the week to complete silence so he could reach his inner peace. He also promoted small communities which he help create in South Africa and also in India. He believed that these communities promoted the unification and strength of people as one. Not only that but he also was a man of great faith. While he practiced Hinduism all his life he also saw himself as a Christian, Jew and Muslim because he saw that all religions were built on love and truth.

Sadly, after the independence of India, it was divided into two countries one being Pakistan. This caused great pain to Ghandi. He saw this to be the destruction of his life work. Throughout his life he wanted to unify people and explain that there are no difference between a man another and there it was in his own country the differences created civil wars and destruction.

Ghandi protested eating until all of the fighting would stop which it eventually did for respect to this man's words, work , wisdom and achievement. However, the demons and insecurities showed once again and Ghandi was killed in 1948 by a radical hindu.

However, the influence of this man continues until today. He influenced many people such as the Dalai Lama, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, John Lennon, Nelson Mandela and many others. I believe that we can learn great things from this legendary man. I simply draw a little highlight into his life and his achievements but there are a lot more to learn which I encourage everyone to read about. While his principles may seem outdated or something that may not work in this time I think that it can serve as a guide for what we can achieve through living a good life that is pure from the inside out.

Bibliography:
- Wikipedia.org
-Ghandi, 1982 ,Richard Attenborough