August 21, 2006

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Picked up this thread from Reddit this morning: Mahatma Gandhi was never awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in his lifetime. Seems preposterous doesn�t it. His disciple Martin Luther King was awarded the prize in 1964. These two men, just human beings, but what human beings they were. They saw a wrong and were determined to right the wrong through non-violent means. That is not an easy trick in this very violent world we live in, but they did it. But they both paid the sacrifice of their earthly lives to accomplish it. Once in a while a person will walk this earth with such purpose and grandeur that the rest of the world can do nothing except stand back and watch with awe, and maybe learn. These two men wanted nothing but peace and right for all people.



Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

3 comments:

orange egg said...

the problem with such perhaps 'western' constructs of Gandhi is that it overlooks the extents that he would go to keep the peace. he was instrumental in our independence, but he also told the lower castes to accept Brahmin hegemony, he asked women to listen to their husbands and the village people to listen to their elders...and all in the interest of preserving the peace.

jimkitt said...

Orange egg: I will not presume to question your knowledge of Indian history. My knowledge comes from history books and movies, neither of which is free from the author or moviemakers biases, and is superficial at best. Your comment though has provoked my curiosity to learn more. Perhaps you can suggest books, columns, or movies to illustrate your points to me. I am always anxious to learn more. But unless I am completely wrong, India is a free country, governed by Indians. Your point about Gandhi being for husbands rights sounds much like our women’s campaigns for equal rights that goes on to this day. But my point remains, Gandhi was the man at the front of the fight for your countries independence movement and he insisted it be non-violent. To accomplish that with a world war raging around him was extraordinary. To be sure he was only a human being, not a god, but to reiterate my point he and Martin Luther King did what they did non-violently, they endured much violence toward them but never took their eyes off the goal. They endured. They succeeded.

orange egg said...

might be difficult for you to acCess material on the criticism of gandhi.

but if you ever come across B.R. Ambedkar or R. Dutt or V.D. Savarkar..all of them have been scathing in their critique of gandhi.

movies: Bose - The Forgotten Hero, Gandhi Se Mahatma Tak (From Gandhi to Mahatma)

there is no denying that gandhi was an extraordinary man and because his influence is so all pervasive in Indian life, it is difficult to retain any objectivity towards him, especially for an Indian.

btw.. have never seen snow in my hot and dusty tropical country:) but your last post was beautiful.