“You may not waste a grain of rice or a scrap of paper, and similarly a minute of your time. It is not ours. It belongs to the nation and we are the trustees for the use of it.” ~ Gandhi, CWMG Vol. xxvi, p. 272

One of the most compelling stories Arun Gandhi tells about his time with his grandfather is how he, as a young schoolboy, threw away a little nub of a pencil. When he asked for a new one, Grandfather (aka Mahatma Gandhi) made him go back on the road and find the nub, and use it all up. What a way to bring home this precious lesson. This is one of Gandhi’s strongest statements on trusteeship, which we’ve commented on before as a mainstay of his economics and so much more. For us today, “nation” should be replaced by “world,” but the principle is more critical than ever.

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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