The 20th century! Bloodiest century in human history. Man killed more in the hundred years of the previous century than the first twenty centuries after Christ put together. Yet through that lingering dark cloud of violence, shone this bright light. The light of Non-Violence!
In all the mayhem this world is, it is easy to forget that some of the greatest lurches towards freedom in history took place without a shot being fired.
A man called Gandhi led the biggest democracy on earth become one; Without any army. He stood against the then greatest empire. When England killed incessantly, Gandhi protested relentlessly. But did not fire back. The only weapons he used were non-cooperation and civil disobedience. He just refused to cooperate and disobeyed imperialism with civility. In all the 30 years of his fight against the British colonialism, not once did he hit back. But win, he did, against Great Britain.
Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to the white passenger when asked to vacate by the bus driver. She refused because she was tired of giving in to brutality and force. But did she take a gun and go around shooting? NO! She sat through stubbornly. Refused to give in to brute force. And she brought a change in the law treating the blacks equally in the United States of America.
Martin Luther King Jr had a dream! That one day America will conquer the devilish slavery. And the dream came to light in Obama's presidency. King Jr's fight against slavery included boycott. Staged protests. Sit-ins and eat-ins. He overcame arrest and other violent threats including the bombing of his home. But never did he pick up a gun or throw a bomb.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison fighting for a cause. 27 years of fighting without the bullet and spilling blood. The Berlin wall which stood for nearly three decades dividing people fell down without one known weapon of violence. The women of America got the right to vote after a lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain led a procession of more than 5000 marchers down Washington D.C's Pennsylvania Avenue and the seven years of non-violent movement after that.
Non-violence! Non-Violence is not for the faint-hearted and the coward. It is for the brave who does not mind getting hurt for his views and ideologies, yet without retaliating. It is for the upright who will stand with the marginalized. It is for those who do not mind getting killed in the process; for those who will brave the prison for many years.
The conviction that Non-violence will lead to victories against enemies of all forms ignited the minds of the men and women of the previous century. In an arms race running world where people use violence for zilch, these heroes of the previous century have a huge lesson to teach us.
Non-Violence is for me the single most important idea that conquered the world of the previous century. Is the new century ready to learn?
In all the mayhem this world is, it is easy to forget that some of the greatest lurches towards freedom in history took place without a shot being fired.
A man called Gandhi led the biggest democracy on earth become one; Without any army. He stood against the then greatest empire. When England killed incessantly, Gandhi protested relentlessly. But did not fire back. The only weapons he used were non-cooperation and civil disobedience. He just refused to cooperate and disobeyed imperialism with civility. In all the 30 years of his fight against the British colonialism, not once did he hit back. But win, he did, against Great Britain.
Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to the white passenger when asked to vacate by the bus driver. She refused because she was tired of giving in to brutality and force. But did she take a gun and go around shooting? NO! She sat through stubbornly. Refused to give in to brute force. And she brought a change in the law treating the blacks equally in the United States of America.
Martin Luther King Jr had a dream! That one day America will conquer the devilish slavery. And the dream came to light in Obama's presidency. King Jr's fight against slavery included boycott. Staged protests. Sit-ins and eat-ins. He overcame arrest and other violent threats including the bombing of his home. But never did he pick up a gun or throw a bomb.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison fighting for a cause. 27 years of fighting without the bullet and spilling blood. The Berlin wall which stood for nearly three decades dividing people fell down without one known weapon of violence. The women of America got the right to vote after a lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain led a procession of more than 5000 marchers down Washington D.C's Pennsylvania Avenue and the seven years of non-violent movement after that.
Non-violence! Non-Violence is not for the faint-hearted and the coward. It is for the brave who does not mind getting hurt for his views and ideologies, yet without retaliating. It is for the upright who will stand with the marginalized. It is for those who do not mind getting killed in the process; for those who will brave the prison for many years.
The conviction that Non-violence will lead to victories against enemies of all forms ignited the minds of the men and women of the previous century. In an arms race running world where people use violence for zilch, these heroes of the previous century have a huge lesson to teach us.
Non-Violence is for me the single most important idea that conquered the world of the previous century. Is the new century ready to learn?
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