It is in the place of warring factions that clarification is received.
Ann: Mr. Gandhi?
Mahatma Gandhi: Yes. We are in the belly of the beast, are we not?
No one, certainly not myself, would advertise that space as an harmonious location. However, it is in that place of warring factions that clarification is received, that we see who we are and who we are not, that the ramifications of our decisions are not to be denied.
As you know, I was a proponent of nonviolence. However, that does not mean in any way, shape, or form that I condoned the violent overthrow of the rights of those whose power had been reduced to rubble by those who denied them a voice in their own governance.
Indeed, I saw my role as a warrior. I fought, perhaps more fiercely than any overlord who carried a sword or shield, as I stood in the path of those who would trample the sacred civil rights of my countrymen.
You are asked to do the same today, each in his or her own way. When you see a wrong, right it, when you hear a lie, refute it, and when you are asked for help, give it. This is the sacred way. It is not loud, but it moves mountains.
As momentum gathers in your country as it did in mine, many more will join with you to stare down those who lie to maintain their own ill-gotten gains through the misuse of stolen power. It is that contrast that wakes the heart into awareness and action.
As the earlier civil rights movement in your country revealed the relentless brutality of the police system toward the assigned underclass, so now the cameras recording such acts of brutality stand to refute the skim coating of legitimacy over a systemic criminal process.
Do not lose heart. You have not lost the battle. You are in the middle of a war, no doubt about it. Your true colours are revealed by your fidelity to truth, love, and compassion. Holding these flags aloft, as you move inexorably forward gathering like-minded souls along the way, you will not be denied. Truth is the weapon, love is the conqueror, and compassion is the light which allows the scales to fall from the eyes of misguided souls.
Stay true, stay steady, live the light in your own heart, and you cannot fail.
September 19, 2021
Free Image Credit: Pixabay.
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
Emily Dickinson
Thank you Mr Gandhi. Thank you Ann 🙏💜🌈
Mr. Gandhi's energy is strong and he comes with the experience and lessons of a life lived on this planet. I take a deep breath as I re-read his words:
Stay true, stay steady, live the light in your own heart, and you cannot fail.
For one can persevere knowing that one cannot fail. Thank you both for this message of hope and guidance.