An article on mahatma Gandhi on its 15th b'day.
Answers
Mahatma Gandhi was born today in 1869 in Porbandar, India, and so began a life that would change the history of his country and the world for the better. After studying law, Gandhi famously advocated for the rights of Indians, ultimately becoming "Bapu," the father of the Indian independence movement. But his non-violent activism reached far beyond his homeland, becoming a global call for the oppressed all over the world to unite and stand up for freedom and justice through peaceful protest.
Today, the power of Gandhi's words still inspire us to change the world by changing ourselves. Here are some of his most famous quotes:
#1: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
#2: “The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.”
#3: “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
#4: “Change yourself – you are in control.”
#5: “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
#6: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
#7: “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
#8: “We need not wait to see what others do.”
#9: “A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.”
#10: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
#11: “To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman.”
#12: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”
#13: “Love is the strongest force the world possesses.”
#14: “Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.”
#15: “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”
Answer:
Mahatama Gandhi 150th birthday
Explanation:
Gandhi influences a number of important leaders and political movements across the world. Leaders of civil rights movements in the United States, including Martin Luther King Jr., James Lawson, and James Bevel, drew from the writings of Gandhi in the development of their own theories about nonviolence.
Martin Luther King even went on to say, "Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics," and would even refer to Gandhi as the "little brown saint."
Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Steve Biko, and Aung San Suu Kyi all are believed to have been influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. In fact, in his early years, Mandela was a follower of Gandhi's philosophy of non-violent resistance.
European author Romain Rolland too discussed Gandhi in his 1924 book Mahatma Gandhi and Brazillian feminist Maria Lacerda de Moura too wrote about Gandhi in her work on pacifism. The influence of Gandhi was also seen in European physicist Albert Einstein, who called Gandhi a role model for future generations. Einstein even would go on to credit Gandhi with having created a new and humane means for the liberation war of a country that was oppressed.
Gandhi's influence was even seen in the works of Lanza del Vasto who arrived in India in 1936 intending to live with Gandhi and later returned to Europe to spread the Gandhian philosophy and start the Community of the Ark, modelled on Gandhi's ashrams.
John Lennon too referred to Gandhi when discussing his views on nonviolence and former US Vice-President and environmentalist Al Gore spoke of Gandhi's influence on him.
In fact, former US President Barack Obama too spoke about the Gandhian influence in 2009 when on reply to a question "Who was the one person, dead or alive, that you would choose to dine with?" he referred to Mahatma Gandhi.
Notably, Gandhi's best influence as a world leader can be seen in the fact that the International Day of Non-Violence is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.