Seananigans

This was written on September 11th. I thought I would have more time to spend on it, but I am deciding to post it now, as is.


Today, September 11th, 2006, marks the 5th year since the "terrorist’s" attacks on the World Trade Towers in New York (and the attack on the Pentagon). This also marks (this may be a little less known) the 100th anniversary of when Gandhi proclaimed and started his non-violence campaign. Kind of ironic that one of the most atrocious acts of violence in U.S. history is also the same date as one of the greatest “peace” movements of all time.

What I want to talk about is Gandhi’s ideas and principles. Tonight I got to watch the movie about Gandhi’s life, and his non-violence movement at the Alkek Teaching Theater on my college campus. Now while I had seen some of this film many years before, it didn’t have an impact on me like it did tonight.

The first thing I noticed was its religous undertones. To me it showed some conflicting thoughts between -Christianity and Hinduism – The opening scene shows Ghandi reading the Christian Bible, and there are many scenes when he quotes from it. He seems to get many of his values directly from some of the storie. There is one particular scene where he is walking through this town with a Christian priest, and there are these men who basically threaten to beat him up. Ghandi says, "Are we not commanded to turn the other cheek"? He does not avoid the situation and go another route, but walks right past them.

Gandhi upheld Christian principles and convictions. Ghandi LIVED by "Christian" beliefs. He didn't just talk about them. To many people, including myself, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that this little Hindu man did so many amazing things for his country and fought for the "truth".

-Another thing I came away from in the movie, was the idea that if you live by your beliefs and values and can communicate those, people will get behind you. My friend Andrew is a good demonstration of this. He always is talking aobut his beliefs in equality and justice.


-What Ghandi did by taking an active non-violence campaign, he forced people to realize their own injustice. If you fight back, it gives the other people more a reason to fight you. But if you take the brunt and don't retaliate by violence, and you arn't doing anything wrong, it WILL show that what the other people are wrong. If you arn't doing anything wrong and other people strike you down, will this not make other people see something wrong with this? Quesiton why the principle of non-violence works, and why violence fighting can never work. What is violence's end? What are we seeking with war? Is war a viable option? In Ghandi's own words, “I am not suggesting a passive non-resistance, but active fighting. You fight for justice by not fighting back." This is a beautiful philosophy.

-When Ghandi faced dissenting ideas (such as others in his country advocating war), he always acted in humility. He would 'commend' others opinions for standing up for what they believe (even though he strongly disagreed), while calmly explaining why he didn't believe that would work. He wouldn't argue with people.

-Ghandi stood up for truth and justice at all costs. I love the idea of living your life as a dedication for what you believe in. Fighting for what you believe in!

What does this mean for me and you? Good question. If you've read this, I encourage you to question what you believe in, and ask yourself how can YOU demonstrate your beliefs on a daily level.

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from him:

"Be the change that you want to see in the world."

(This post is a long one in the making. These are some of the ideas that have been running through my head about society and life, but I just had a touch of inspiration as I read a write-up on MySpace.)

The intention of this post is to give some examples of how I feel like we (people) are disconnected from each other. Of course , when you do read this (or anything for that matter), question it and make up your own mind about it - then write a reply @ the end :).


How many people do you see wearing headphones, or walking with their ears plugged into some iPod tune? How many people do you see talking on their cell phones? Or how many people do you see wearing sunglasses, so that you can not see their eyes (and girls with those silly oversized sunglasses)? How many times do you check your facebook / Myspace profile or messages? We spend so much time on facebook reading about people, but we make no effort to actually get to know them. We are content in our 'gossip' about who is doing what. We go to class, no i mean church, no i mean our homes, and we don't talk to the people around us. We go lock ourselves in our rooms, and drown it out to some music. Now we even have self check-out lines where you don't have to have any contact with other people (unless you get a 'red light'). Go on the bus and people just look straight forwards.

Am I over-generalizing? Yes. There are plenty of people who are friendly and will talk to you.

But also I do see this everyday as I walk around campus. People disconnected from each other. Even though they are 'right there' approximately and physically, they aren't 'right there' personally and spiritually.

Has it always been this way? Why is it like this? Does all this new technology really make are lives better and easier? Or has it just allowed us not have to interact with each other.

What are your thoughts?