Is Gandhi's non-violence method only worthy of children's history books? Do we, the people, need to revisit it

Gandhi is a huge inspiration in my life. It began with watching the movie on his life which should be required viewing for every person on the planet. I also read his autobiography and I plan to read more of his books. One of the most inspiring concepts I got from him was that service to one’s family is the purest realization of love and God. His thoughts on man’s diet are also one of the reasons I became a vegetarian. He still inspires, for those that are willing to listen, rather than find out how many people massaged him. Everyone has idiosyncracies and no one is perfect, even Gandhi, but lets focus on the bigger picture shall we?

The reason that his message is not guiding our world leaders relates to something Aristotle said: Government will not work for the people until the philosophers become politicians or the politicians become philosophers. Another of Gandhi’s rare qualities is that he was both. Most people today that have the vision, conviction and morality like Gandhi probably choose not to step onto the stage of global politics. They might hold a local government office or some other job that lets them be close to the people they want to serve (remember service to others?).

His concepts of nonviolence and noncooperation are extremely powerful. I remember reading an email one time (regardless of whether it is true or not), that if the entire country would agree to not buy gas on the same day, it would drop the price of gas. The point is that we don’t have to fight to get what we want. We just have to agree and work together. What would happen to a gas company if we all agreed to never buy their gas, until they did X, Y, and Z. You don’t think they’ll make the changes? We won’t buy your computers until you bring the jobs back from China or India. You don’t think they’ll change. Of course they will, b/c at such a grand scale, you are hitting them where it hurts the most, their wallets. And in a big way. And all we had to do was agree on a simple thing. And all we need is one voice to galvanize us all to the same goal. Alas, like Aristotle said, you need someone that is philosopher and politician. And that seems to be very rare.

But don’t throw your hands up just because our world leaders are not doing it. Do it yourself in whatever sphere of influence you can do it in your life. It may just be with your husband, just your neighborhood, just your kid’s school, but so what? If you affect just one life, you have done something invaluable.

And whenever the time is right, whenever I know my kids are ready to listen to what Gandhi has to teach, I will encourage my kids to at least watch the movie. And hopefully, I will have raised them in a way that when they see it, it has the same impact on their lives.

Finally, I would love for people to drop their copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul and pick up his book instead.

I don't know..I personally think its impossible for American's to ever grasp a peacefull concept about anything. Althought wouldnt it be great if all of the people in America did a non violent protest and fasted...Could you imagine...It would go on for years considering we have the fattest country in the world! Wow We could lose weight and get world peace. Ghandi is an exception as a man unfortunately...now the only way to ever get ur message across is to kill all thoes who oppose it. But don't worry...what goes around comes around...and America hasn't learned that lesson but they will. Look at Rome,Greece, Egypt, England...and tell me what happens when Greed and power corrupt a country..

Imagine.....

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

Gandhi was a strong votary of non-violence. We need to realize that violence takes birth within our own selves. When peace is lost, it is because violence has disturbed that peace within. Before we can talk about world peace, we must begin to have peace within ourselves.

The path to attain this is an arduos struggle with oneself like Gandhi himself had gone through as mentioned in his book - My Experiments with Truth. It is only when violence is conquered within the individual and peace is attained within that this peace and non-violence can pervade to the outside.

Simple spiritual practices like Gandhi did such as meditation, reading spiritual texts and practise of human and moral values can go a long way in realizing this claim.

Let us start today and let us start with ourselves. If everyone can think this way, world peace will be here sooner than you think.

That method worked! I think it could work today but too many people give in to their violent tendencies and choose not to discipline themselves. Too bad... If everyone thought like Gandhi, the world would be a peaceful place!

Gandhi wasn't the only person to make nonviolence work. Martin Luther King Jr was inspired by Gandhi and used nonviolent protest in the civil rights movement. It's a good method, but only if your opponent is willing to kill a person for just sitting peacefully.

I'm going to be brutally honest here, Gandhi BORED me in school. I chose GCSE History to study WW1 and WW2 (I've always been fascinated by military history) and ended up studying Gandhi instead. Don't get me wrong, I respect him as a great peace loving man, but his story is sooooo boring.

Gandhi was a perfect hypocrite

He did not allow his wife to take Western medicine while he took himself

He used to be surrounded by young girls all the time massaging him

He was very miser. He did not allow his servants to take more than one Roti (Bread)

He did not help his won son and got angry over the other son when he helped his brother.

He helped English colonists against blacks of South Africa.

He along with Nehru was instrumental in arranging many anti Muslim riots killing thousands of them

Gandhi was dealing with a civilized country where the rule of law and justice to all was a standard revered by all. When dealing with idiots who want to kill everybody who don't believe as they do,deserve to die, peaceful non violence will just get you beheaded. There's nothing political about whats going on in the middle east. Its a clash of culture and religion with one side willing to kill everyone who refuses to convert to their way of life. Imagine I sell a car for a set price and then later say you stole it. We buy Arab oil at supply and demand prices and then you see them rioting in the streets saying we're stealing their oil. Billions of dollars a day go to these countries and the level of poverty remains the same. Maybe we should tie the cost of a bushel of grain to the cost of a barrel of oil. Do you think anything would change? We donate everything from food,medicine, blankets,school supplies and everything else and all we get in return is hate and violence. Maybe we should let them eat their oil, treat their woman like dogs and kill each other. I really think non violent change in the middle east is in reality a suicide policy. If your child refuses to believe in the religion you believe in does that give you the right to kill them? If your daughter shows her face in public or dates outside her religion does she deserve to die? We need to deal with this insanity before it consumes us all.

depends....notice how all the leaders who have used it, were mentally strong and had a tremendously strong will?

Not many avg. Joes or Janes have the willpower to follow thorugh. You need a superior leader, those don't come everyday. How much easier was it to follow Trumen and drop a big bomb to end a war, than it would have been to try and negociate a cease-fire.