Gandhi: The Actions That Affected Generations To Come
Many people feel they can change the world and better it for future generations. They try all sorts of ways to change life, and many don’t accomplish their goals. One person who did accomplish his goals was Gandhi. Gandhi took many actions to affect those who were doing wrong. But did Gandhi accomplish his goals when he wanted to? Did Gandhi accomplish his goals at all? I feel Gandhi did accomplish his goals, but not in his lifetime.
Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in 1869, the world’s greatest man was born. Gandhi went to school in England to become a lawyer. He was trained in formal law, and was classically trained. His education in law made him a diligent thinker. He then established a law practice in Bombay with little success. Two years later he joined an Indian firm. This firm retained him as a legal advisor in Durban. Arriving in Durban, Gandhi found himself treated as though part of an inferior race. He was appalled at the widespread denial of civil liberties and political rights to Indian immigrants in South Africa. He threw himself into the struggle for elementary rights for Indians. He used his training when forming his beliefs. “The things that will destroy us are: Politics without principle; Pleasure without conscience; Wealth without work; Knowledge without character; Business without morality; Science without humanity, And worship without sacrifice.”1
Gandhi spent the next twenty years of his life in South Africa, being imprisoned many a time. Why was he imprisoned do you ask? Well, this is where you can find out. Gandhi became a freedom fighter for Indians, minus the fighting of course. Well, sort of, Gandhi had been attacked and beaten many times by the white South Africans. He then formed his idea of passive resistance to, and noncooperation with, the South African authorities. “Make waves, not war”2 He gained inspiration to be a passive resister from the writer Leo Tolstoy, Gandhi’s greatest influence. Tolstoy left a profound influence and imprint on Gandhi as did the teachings of Jesus Christ and the nineteenth century writer Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” was one Gandhi took to heart. But civil disobedience and passive resistance were believed by Gandhi to be inadequate for his purpose. For that reason Gandhi coined the term Satyagraha, a Sanskrit word meaning truth and firmness. This word defined what Gandhi was working towards. In 1910 Gandhi founded Tolstoy Farms, in Johannesburg, which was a cooperative colony for Indians to go to.
The first of Gandhi’s nonviolent protests was the sit-in. He was arrested dozens of time for doing a sit-in. When the Indian people were being oppressed or unfairly taxed, Gandhi would go to an important area. Important as in, in front of a government building of those doing the taxing or oppressing. He would peacefully sit until arrested. The meetings or gatherings could not continue while Gandhi was there and others would join him, usually Indians, so to prevent the evil ways from continuing. After twenty years of sit-ins Gandhi decided he needed something bigger. The sit-ins always ended with the gathering continuing afterward and Gandhi in jail. That is only so effective, surely not effective enough. Gandhi instigated hunger strikes to stop Indian oppression. Gandhi would go for extremely long periods of time without eating. The South African government did know of these hunger strikes and were forced to give in. If they did not they would be responsible for the death of this man. It’s perfectly understandable why they gave in, of course. But the government wouldn’t just give Gandhi anything for not eating, so Gandhi’s progression towards his goals was still quite slow. When he did eat Gandhi was a vegetarian and still ate very little. Because of his diet Gandhi became awfully frail and skinny; his breath had an incurable odor. He also walked around barefoot which made his feet hard and callused. For these two reasons he became known as Super callused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis. His face became synonymous with the struggle of the Indian people and an international symbol of a free Indian state. He led the Indian people in the struggle for Indian independence.
