Two things that normally should never be put together.
I was watching a movie, in my 10th Grade History Class, Cry Freedom I think it was.
It was a movie about the life and times of Gandhi.
In it was one quote that caught my ear, and got me thinking about. And recently I have recalled it again with Glenn Beck quoting Gandhi.
I forget the exact quote but the long and the short of it was that his methods of peace and non violence would not work against Hitler. That was not the way to solve that particular situation.
So Why?
I think it has to do with issues of good and evil. Why it would work in the end in a place like India is that the British were not evil, the British Government was not evil, the British people I do not believe have ever been evil. It’s just that there was several people, especially on the ground in India, who were.
They were disconnected from the home land and the British people hardly knew what was going on, and nor did the Government.
So these people could act however they wanted, until the tragedy made good descent people go, oh my gosh, what did they just do?
They shot at local Indians and Citizens and killed many people and Gandhi under remarkable stress continued to preach his philosophy of peace and non violence.
They were not radicals, and the British people saw that, why are we killing these people?
Now we Americans are facing much the same situation in today’s climate.
I do not believe that Barrack Obama is evil. I do not believe that the Administration the Congress or the American people are evil. They are doing great evil, but I do not think that there are many people who are actually in our Government that are evil.
And there are even fewer people who are evil, percentage wise.
But yet if they see us doing evil acts, we will lose them and lose the battle for the heart and the soul of the country.
Violence is not the way out of this. The only way out is a movement based on non violence like the great movements in the past.
Only a constant adherence to peace and civil discourse…its hard I know, I cannot always do that myself.
But this is what is required to win, from the bottom to the top. To elect the people we need, to change the debate and the course of this country, and to civilly change our own lives.
And if there is violence of tongue, heart, or action then let it be done by the RADICALS of the other side. Because if we are to win the debate we must make that case.
It’s the same thing with immigration, taxes, no matter what your issue is.
Because we are not an evil people, there still remains a lot of good in this country and in our government and people who want to run for public office.
They just need the support of a constant drum beat behind them of people who are strong, active, emotional, passionate about the issues, articulate, civil, and awake.
We must reject violence loudly no matter who is doing it.
And every time they call us names we must loudly proclaim that we are not racist, that we are not violent, just that we will not stay silent anymore. That we are mad as hell, we will not take it anymore, and we are awake. We will fight and articulate our line in the sand. But we will never kill, we will never wound, and we will never maim.
At least that is where we need to be if we are going to take our country back.
Colfoley's Blog 
8 Comments
but don’t forget to add that should those who do violence against us will find us fierce defenders of self, property, family
Well that is the key, and I will be explaining in future blogs.
Great blog….you got me thinking so I Googled Gandhi quotes and found this one: “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
Mohandas Gandhi
and WOW that is powerful….and then I thought WHY?? How could Non-violence be the most powerful weapon at our disposal?? That was baffling to me….and then I realized….it is because it takes two parties to have a war. You are attacked and then you retaliate. Then from there the war has begun. If after you are attacked you do nothing…there will come a point when your enemy will not know what to do because you simply did not engage with them. So why would they continue to attack you?? They wouldn’t…. it would make no sense. Or well they may try again but there would be a point in which they would realize it simply wouldn’t gain them anything simply to kill you….because at that point …..it would be murder. So in a sense by not fighting back ….by remaining non violent you are controlling the situation.
I’m not sure this would work every time… but seriously Pride has cause many a war…..trying to retaliate….to get even …..to strike back. Because it is a reflex reaction…..it seems to be inborn in us.
But we should listen to Gandhi and try and remain non-violent when at all possible ….then maybe we would hold all the cards. Which leads me to one of his most famous quotes:
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
Mohandas Gandhi
Actuaklly I think maybe Faith is the most powerful force known to human kind. That a fiath in God, regardless if there is a God or not…and you know my opinion on that :P….but a belief in him and a righteous adhearance in the knowledge that somehting may be watching your bacak and agrees with your cause is a powerful tool, and weapon. Especially if put into the wrong hands.
But you are in essence right. But I think more to the point what Non Violence does is it puts the ball in the other sides court. It forces them to either come to the table and listen to the other sides demands, or lie, slander, or commit acts of violence to stop the people they deem to be a threat and thus expose themselves as the real threat. Because right now in this country, and in times previous, despite there being millions of combatants on the field of battle of ideas their are millions upon millions more who are unengaged, or uninformed, or just wanting to do what they do, or have no knowledge of the other side of the debate. The first side to commit violence will expose themselves. We are in an uphill battle because the media is mostly in the pocket of the other side, but there we go.
Yes absolutly. And that is part of the point…one we need to use it responsibly….. but the fact remains that they do have the right to do these things. And our nervousness is, well both natural, and that we have it bred into us. Despite millions of people no using guns for evil, it is the exception and not the rule
And Beck has said follo the law and do not get belligerent. Like others have been apt to do.
I’ve always thought that not fighting back against one who has shown himself to be the aggressor made you a wuss more than anything…:-P
But should you be forced to resort to the use of arms…..we are directed to do so without liking it and we must use this force justly by essentially not intentionally targeting non-combatants
The just-war doctrine is very clear…not to mention Scripture based….which squirrely would love…:-P
but it’s right there in Scripture that while we aren’t directed to love violence we must be willing to resort to force in order to protect ourselves and those under our protection
Scripture is a lot more complicated, Jews did not fight until they were mandated by God to do so, so we have a ton of legal twists and turns. Basically from my point of view, we are supposed to despise violence. Even if I were to kill in defense of others, I would hate it. There’s no, “I’ll be peaceful but” the but’s are a slippery-slope. We must hold the flags of peace, and our instincts will protect us if it fails. There is no need to flash guns at people.
Non-voilent or peaceful does not mean pacifist. It means to have a hatred of violence, to be a reluctant fighter. If we go to war with that in mind, we’ll find ourselves not torturing prisoners like in Abu Grhiab (sp?).
Amen. I agree with you completly.
However…war tends to have…different rules. It brings out the best and the worst in humanity, it really does, and the great ones stir everything up. Yes we must be relecutant warriors…but people can be corruptiable. Unfortanatly that is as much true of our brave servicemen, who I love and honor usually. But, in those situations…well that happens. And you cannot always rely on the people who you call upon to be as pure as yoour intentions, or yourself, for going into the war.