Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a great political and spiritual leader for India while she was still under the rule of the British Empire. For many years, no one successfully fought back against the British colonial government in India.
This all changed when a small man, born in the ancient city of Porbandar in 1869, stood up and said “Enough!” This man became known the world over as Gandhi, the mahatma or “Great Soul” and father of India.
Gandhi’s early years showed little sign of the great life he would go on to live. He went to school, was married and later became a rather unsuccessful, terribly shy lawyer. All of this changed one fateful day when Gandhi was denied a seat on a stagecoach in South Africa.
The driver had made him sit outside in the hot sun on a long trip to Pretoria, simply because he was Indian. Gandhi, until now too shy to even speak in front of a judge, sued the railroad company and won. From that point on, Gandhi became one of the most loved champions for oppressed peoples throughout the world.
After 20 years of aiding his fellow Indians in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India and began to fight against British oppression. Instead of encouraging native born Indians to take up arms and force the British colonists out of their country, Gandhi created a policy of non-violent protest. “Non-violence, “ he said, “is a weapon for the brave.”
For 20 years, non-violent protests, marches and strikes by the Indians wore down British resistance. Confronted by a slight man wearing only a plain cloth and accompanied by millions of followers armed not with weapons but with love and truth, the British government in 1946 finally gave India its long-held dream of independence. The fight for India’s freedom had been won without a battle having ever been fought.
Sadly, two years after his great victory, Gandhi was shot and killed by an assassin’s bullet. But Gandhi’s legacy lived on after his death, showing the world that one can be a hero and accomplish great things without guns or swords or hatred.
As Gandhi once said, “It is non-violence only when we love those that hate us. I know how difficult it is to follow this grand law of love, but are not all great and good things difficult to do? Love of the hater is the most difficult of all. But by the grace of God even this most difficult thing becomes easy to accomplish if we want to.”