Biography of Gandhi
After hearing the final quote of the movie "Gandhi",it seemed to me that this quote truly embodied Gandhi's entire philosophy. While it does does not speak of non-violence, this is the foundation on which non-violent protest is based. Take, for example, the march on the salt factory. Again and again the protesters marched on the gate and were driven off with sticks, unable to raise a fist in their defense lest it jeopardize their cause. The guards at the gate were, for all intensive purposes, invincible and omnipotent. What chance had simple common people who were unable to defend themselves against a detachment of armed guards who used sticks only in their all encompassing benevolence (please note the sarcasm). How could these villagers be expected to maintain hope. Yet they did, and it was this philosophy that kept driving them forward. And in the end, the guards fell, and the and the people were victorious.
Gandhi's entire life is an embodiment of this as well, as he is repeatedly struck down, assaulted, arrested, and in general, mistreated, with impunity. The British government was an omnipotent and malevolent blocking his every path. A force he could harm no more than a mouse could harm a lion. Yet he persisted confident that this tyranny would fall. Confident that all things good and true backed him on his lofty quest. And in the end, the lion quailed, cowed by the sheer tenacity of the mouse.
One instance of this would be when Gandhi was arrested for attempting to speak out against the war. Yet he continued to speak against the war while in prison and even once he was out, risking his freedom once again. Here he was, a mouse caught under the lion's foot, one claw on his chest, yet he continued to bite, to scratch, to resist, though it served only to irritate the lion. And even when the lion saw fit to release him, he continued to chase that foot, that foot that could end his life with the ease and impunity with which one might kill a roly-poly. But the lion, stiff-backed and haughty, would not sway. And he payed the price. Cast low by the great war, the lion finally succumbed to the mice. And limping back to his rock to nurse his wounds, he lefet the mice free of the oppression under which they had toiled for so many years.
Gandhi's entire life is an embodiment of this as well, as he is repeatedly struck down, assaulted, arrested, and in general, mistreated, with impunity. The British government was an omnipotent and malevolent blocking his every path. A force he could harm no more than a mouse could harm a lion. Yet he persisted confident that this tyranny would fall. Confident that all things good and true backed him on his lofty quest. And in the end, the lion quailed, cowed by the sheer tenacity of the mouse.
One instance of this would be when Gandhi was arrested for attempting to speak out against the war. Yet he continued to speak against the war while in prison and even once he was out, risking his freedom once again. Here he was, a mouse caught under the lion's foot, one claw on his chest, yet he continued to bite, to scratch, to resist, though it served only to irritate the lion. And even when the lion saw fit to release him, he continued to chase that foot, that foot that could end his life with the ease and impunity with which one might kill a roly-poly. But the lion, stiff-backed and haughty, would not sway. And he payed the price. Cast low by the great war, the lion finally succumbed to the mice. And limping back to his rock to nurse his wounds, he lefet the mice free of the oppression under which they had toiled for so many years.