TWO MEN, BOTH WITH IDEAS, ONE HAD IDEALS
While doing some research on the great motivational persons of the last century, the lives of two men amongst eight or so stood out to me at the time. Both moved and motivated hoards of their countrymen, at a time of need and while both were engaged in war.
Yet they contrasted differently because of circumstance and had the ability to move the masses by two different opposed methodologies, this fascinated me. Mahatma Ghandi and Joseph Stalin. Two styles, two backgrounds, two destinations and both successful. One to be remembered as the patriarch of personal dignity and freedom and the other as both a hero and a despicably cruel tyrant.
MAHATMA GHANDI
October 21, 1946. Preston Grover of the Associated Press of America asked Gandhi, during an interview in New Delhi, if he had any message for America. This was 1946. He described the financial situation today.
Gandhiji (Indian spelling of reverence) replied, " Dislodge the money God called "Mammon" from the throne and find a corner for a poor God. I think America has a very big future but in spite of what is said to the contrary, it has a dismal future if it swears by "Mammon". "Mammon" has never been known to be a friend of any of us to the last. He is always a false friend".
Mohandas K. Gandhi also said: " I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers". Today he would be dealing with not only the opposition but soothsayers, talking heads, blogsters, TV personalities, Hollywood, spin, lies and anyone today that qualifies for Rupert Murdock's payroll. And now add phone hacking, eves dropping and sabotage, fake news, and going soft on nuts and allies.
He wrote many of my favorite passages. I am a fan of Gandhi, his ability to see truth clearly, and express it, is a gift few others have ever had. He was a gift to the world.
It is when he asks: "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy". He also said: "One of the most dangerous thoughts spiritually perilous to humanity is Politics without Principle". Wow, what a clear vision of today.
In another story I quoted Gandhiji. I find so many answers in the words of Mohandas Gandhi. Again, he seemed to address all the questions that are posed by minds that see and question and converts them into simple truth, obviously something Washington hasn't a clue about.
Our system is like the oil in your car, each day the oil gets a little dirtier. Not as noticeable as you might think, just a little dirtier. One day is it goes on long enough the engine will seize, already it seems we are down a quart. He understood the oil theory but spoke of the ocean in a positive term.
He said, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty". If that’s true, possibly all of the Congressional elected officials are not corrupt. But that oil slick sure looks like bunker fuel number three these days and the name Exxon Valdez is painted on the rear wall of Congress.
Known: Mahatma Gandhi
Born: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Dates: (2 Oct 1869 – 30 Jan 1948)
He was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
The honorific Mahatma in Sanskrit means "high-souled," “venerable” was first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, and is is now used worldwide. He is also called Bapu which is Gujarati: endearment for "father, "papa." in India.
Born and raised in a Hindu, merchant caste, family in coastal Gujarat, western India, and trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights.
After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, but above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.
Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km 250 mi. Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. Gandhi attempted to practice non-violence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same.
He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and social protest.
Gandhi's vision of a free India based on religious pluralism, however, was challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a separate Muslim homeland carved out of India. Eventually, in August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a smaller Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan.
As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to promote religious harmony.
The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 at age 78, also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating.
Among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest at point-blank range.
Gandhi is commonly, though not officially, considered the Father of the Nation in India. His birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and world-wide as the International Day of Non-Violence.