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Gandhi's grandson talks about the need for respect
by Holly Leighton
News | 10/23/07
Posted online at 4:02 AM EST on 10/23/07
Arun Gandhi, grandson of the late pacifist Mahatma Gandhi, gave the keynote address to open the Student Peace Alliance National conference in Levin Ballroom last Friday, speaking to nearly 300 audience members from Student Peace Alliance chapters across the nation.
Gandhi, the founder of the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Rochester, New York, spoke about the prevalence of violence in the world and how small, meaningful acts of peace can change society.
"I grew up believing that nonviolence was the absence of violence," Gandhi said. "I now believe that violence has overtaken every aspect of human life," including relationships and speech.
"We have to create a relationship with each other and reach out," he continued. "We can create peace with respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation."
Emphasizing the difference between tolerance and respect, Gandhi urged students to practice the latter. He discussed lessons he learned from his grandfather, who through non-violent acts, helped liberate India from British rule.
"While I lived with my grandfather I learned how to build and understand anger," Ghandi said. He said anger is equivalent to electrical energy, a powerful force that is useful when it is used wisely. "It is a lesson everyone needs to learn… violence is generalized by anger," he said.
Drawing on own experience, he spoke about the peaceful ways people can teach each other.
Gandhi recalled as a young boy taking his father into town and after promising to pick him up soon, Arun became caught up watching a film in a theater and ended up picking up his father an hour late. When his father asked him why he was late, Arun said his first instinct was to lie. His father looked him in the eye and simply asked why he would lie to him. This experience, he said, gave him one of the most important lessons of his youth.
"If my father had used violence to teach me, I would have learned how not to get caught," he said. "We have to do more than just use it; we have to live it, really make it a part of our lives."
Gandhi, the founder of the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Rochester, New York, spoke about the prevalence of violence in the world and how small, meaningful acts of peace can change society.
"I grew up believing that nonviolence was the absence of violence," Gandhi said. "I now believe that violence has overtaken every aspect of human life," including relationships and speech.
"We have to create a relationship with each other and reach out," he continued. "We can create peace with respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation."
Emphasizing the difference between tolerance and respect, Gandhi urged students to practice the latter. He discussed lessons he learned from his grandfather, who through non-violent acts, helped liberate India from British rule.
"While I lived with my grandfather I learned how to build and understand anger," Ghandi said. He said anger is equivalent to electrical energy, a powerful force that is useful when it is used wisely. "It is a lesson everyone needs to learn… violence is generalized by anger," he said.
Drawing on own experience, he spoke about the peaceful ways people can teach each other.
Gandhi recalled as a young boy taking his father into town and after promising to pick him up soon, Arun became caught up watching a film in a theater and ended up picking up his father an hour late. When his father asked him why he was late, Arun said his first instinct was to lie. His father looked him in the eye and simply asked why he would lie to him. This experience, he said, gave him one of the most important lessons of his youth.
"If my father had used violence to teach me, I would have learned how not to get caught," he said. "We have to do more than just use it; we have to live it, really make it a part of our lives."
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