December 18: “It is much more difficult to live for nonviolence than to die for it.” –Gandhi (Harijan, January 7, 1939) Don’t get the man wrong–it is very difficult to die for nonviolence. To risk your life for it is difficult, courageous, and noble. But to live for it? No drama; no heroism — just… read more
Tag Archives: patience
“Patience and action”–Daily Metta
December 17: “Time is always on the side of those who will wait upon it.” –Gandhi (Collected Works, Vol. XXVI, p. 268) Wait. Wait. This is not what it sounds like. Gandhi is not telling us to refrain from acting, he is talking about what attitude to cultivate once the wheels of nonviolence are set… read more
“The importance of patience”–Daily Metta
October 18: “Patience and perseverance, if we have them, overcome mountains of difficulties.” –Gandhi (Harijan, May 16, 1935) Aside from la-onf, which literally means ‘non-violence,’ Arabic has two other common terms for it, sabr and sumud, which mean, interestingly enough, ‘patience’ and ‘endurance, perseverance.’ Gandhi here offers us a gentle reminder of the same two… read more
“Boundless Patience”–Daily Metta
March 25: “Those who believe in the justice of their cause need to possess boundless patience.” –Gandhi (Young India, 4-28-1929, p.4-8) In Arabic one word for nonviolence is sabr, ‘patience’. Even though it has been statistically proven by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan that nonviolent transitions to democracy, contrary to popular belief, are three times… read more
