Towards Freedom

Gandhi's "become the change you wish to see in the world" is unfortunately one of those horribly misapplied items that is circulated with wild abandonment by some people who feel they've suddenly been struck with enlightenment. The idea nevertheless is a good one provided one understands what it really means and where the phrase really has relevance. Below is one such instance.

You may know the delightful story about the mother who went to Gandhi to get him to ask her boy to stop eating sweets (the kid wasn't listening to her apparently and she figured she'd bring in the big guns!). Gandhi said he would but asked her to come back in 2 weeks. When she did, he told the kid to stop eating sweets with some rationale for doing so. Awestruck by the great Mahatma, the boy readily agreed!

This is an article written by the San Diego organizer of the 1998 Season for Non-Violence event.

I would like to inform you if you do not know already about an exciting and uplifting time of the year- it is called the Season for Non-Violence. January 30 and April 4, 1998 mark the 50th and 30th anniversaries of the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The days between these memorial anniversaries are being hailed as A Season for Non- Violence - a time to raise awareness about the principles and practices of nonviolence, to highlight the local 'heroes' and initiatives that are putting them into practice, and to honor the legacies of two great men who taught the world an alternative means for defusing conflict and transforming communities.