November 18: “Sorrow and suffering make for character if they are voluntarily borne, not if they are imposed.” –Gandhi (Mahatma vol. 3, p. 122) During one of his stays in London, this time for the Second Roundtable Conference on the Freedom of India, someone asked Gandhi this question: “Mr. Gandhi, if sorrow makes for character… read more
Tag Archives: gandhi
“Help one person”–Daily Metta
November 17: “Only one who has exhausted all efforts may say that he can do nothing more.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, vol.4) When we feel a problem is too big to solve by ourselves, many of us tend to draw back into our shells and resign ourselves to doing nothing. Here’s what Gandhi offered to a friend… read more
“An indomitable will”–Daily Metta
November 16: “Strength does not come from a physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, vol. ii, p.5) While he weighed in at a little over a hundred pounds in his physical body, Gandhi’s spirit was immeasurable. He was living proof that strength was a quality that transcends the body. Muscle is… read more
“The Nonviolent Moment”–Daily Metta
November 15: “I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger.” –Gandhi (Young India, September 15, 1920) One of the most pivotal moments of Gandhi’s life was when he was kicked off the train in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, for sitting in a First Class compartment because he was Indian, though… read more
“No surrender to brute force”–Daily Metta
November 14: “In the code of the Satyagrahi there is no such thing as surrender to brute force.” –Gandhi (Young India, April 30, 1931) This week, when suicide bombers targeted a busy south Beirut marketplace, an indiscriminate attack on men, women, children, whoever happened to be there on an evening like any other, it was… read more
“An expression of love”–Daily Metta
November 13: “The various items of constructive activity that you are doing are only the outward expressions of truth and ahimsa.” –Gandhi (Mahatma, vol. iv, p.239) I was visiting my friend in her weaving studio when I first heard about a powerful project taking place in the southern Arizona desert, the borderland between Mexico and… read more
“Talking to gun owners”–Daily Metta
November 12: “We are fearless and free, so long as we have the weapon of Satyagraha in our hands.” –Gandhi (Satyagraha in South Africa) The funny thing about guns is that in nine cases out of 10, the person behind the trigger is scared to death. A gun does not represent bravery as much as… read more
“We were on the side of life”–Daily Metta
November 11: “Birth and death are not two different states, but they are different aspects of the same state.” –Gandhi (Young India, August 4, 1927) There is a bridge outside of Delhi with these words inscribed upon it: This is a Bridge. This is a Bridge. Do not make your home on it. In other… read more
“When care is revolutionary”–Daily Metta
November 10: “An owner never spoils his property.” –Gandhi (Young India, August 4, 1927) Gandhi, talking to mill workers in 1927, wanted them to understand their power. Without labor, he insisted, there would be no product. He tells them, “When you know that the mill is as much yours as the mill-owners’, you will never… read more
“Have you heard of Mondragon?”–Daily Metta
November 8: “If one man can produce one ideal village, he will have provided a pattern not only for the whole country, but perhaps for the whole world.” –Gandhi (Harijan, August 4, 1940) Never underestimate the power of a good example. Gandhi never did. Indeed, he wanted to show through the power of one good… read more
