Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, spoke to a nearly full auditorium at the Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley last Saturday. In a blend of his own personal experiences and stories told to him by his grandfather, Gandhi presented the main tenets of nonviolence and how they can be applied to each person’s life.
A campaign called “A Season for Nonviolence,” begun in 1998 by Arun and his wife Sunanda, is dedicated to celebrating the principles of nonviolence and demonstrating the power they can have over all aspects of the lives of individuals and communities.
The season spans from Jan. 30 until April 4, the anniversaries of the assassinations of M. K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1948 and 1968 respectively.
According to the tenets of nonviolence, there are two main types of violence: physical and passive. Physical violence is the form we are most familiar with: force used openly. Passive violence is much more insidious and harder to dig out. Oppression of the spirit, emotional hurt and neglect fall under this category. It is these actions, not normally associated with violence, that lead to anger in the victims, and then quite often to physical violence in the long run. Rather than seeking revenge, Arun said it is important to channel that anger into the energy for positive action.
One of the primary goals of the Season for Nonviolence is to teach people how to reduce the passive violence in their lives by honoring themselves and others, practicing forgiveness and compassion, and choosing peaceful thoughts, communication and actions.
The Rocky Mountain Alliance for the Season of Nonviolence gives on their website (http://www.seasonnv-rma.org) a set of daily practices for each of the sixty-six days of the commemoration period, including a pertinent quote and an affirmation statement to help in individuals’ efforts to practice nonviolence.
During the question and answer period, Gandhi was asked about the terrorism of Sept. 11 and how his grandfather would have responded to it.
He replied that he believes M. K. Gandhi would have looked at the incident as a wake-up call and a chance for reflection about why people are so angry with the United States that they would commit such a terrible act. In his opinion, the coalition is important, but it should become less “you are either with us or against us,” and more inclusive towards doing what is good for the entire world, not just the U.S. He believes that it is time to change attitudes and share more of ourselves with the world, abandoning the isolationism and arrogance that we have shown thus far.
In his words, “The absence of war does not mean there is peace.”
Nonviolence can be another way to look at the world and come to terms with misfortunes that we cannot control by taking on a more positive role.
At the closing of his speech, Arun pointed out that, “If we look for the good things in people, we make a positive change.”
