Eight years ago was my first time honoring or even being aware of the International Day of Peace. At the time, I was living in Santa Fe, NM, and I had been volunteering as the Santa Fe Coordinator for the Peace Alliance. During this short period of my life, I was most vocal about my unwavering allegiance to peace.
I hosted an event on 9/21/06 to show a film, “Satyagraha: 100 Years of Nonviolence.” The movie was released a couple weeks earlier, and my own interest in Gandhi inspired me to organize a public event to show the film. Only a few people showed up to the event, and although they were very gracious and enjoyed the film, I was a bit disappointed that more people didn’t show. But after I got home that night, I vividly remember this one moment: looking up at the dark sky so deep with stars, a silent understanding swept over me as the wind blew. I knew it was good that I’d spent the money and time to organize the event; it wasn’t the quantity of people that mattered. Gandhi himself was an example of how just one person can have a monumental impact.
A few weeks later, I received a card in the mail with a check that coincidentally almost exactly matched the money I’d spend on that evening. One of the attendees said she felt inspired by my actions, and she wanted to pay it forward.
Another man who attended borrowed a book of mine that evening, a great book about Gandhi’s life. The next time I saw this man, he was in full Gandhi garb walking through a public event in Santa Fe, hugging people, saying Gandhi-like things, reciting quotes. I saw him around town a few more times, always as the “Santa Fe Gandhi.” I never did get my book back, but it was true to its title: The Transformation of a Man. It was clear something had shifted in this man, enough to drive him to wrap himself in a sheet and spread peace through our community.
Gandhi is the human being in history that I’ve found most interesting because of the means with which he pursued his quest for India’s freedom. Nonviolence was not a strategy, or a tool to be picked up and put down; nonviolence was the movement itself. Nonviolence was what he cultivated through his most personal inner struggles and investigations, as well as in his most public talks and actions.
Satyagraha, the name Gandhi chose for the movement he led, means the pursuit of truth. Although the connection between truth and peace might not be immediately apparent, it certainly was to Gandhi. And as I’ve spent a great deal of my adult life in the investigation of both truth and peace, I too have found that they are deeply interconnected. When we wholeheartedly pursue truth, we arrive at peace. When we wholeheartedly pursue peace, we arrive at truth.
For each day of this countdown, I’ll share a favorite quote or maybe something else. Please join me in whatever way you feel called, and consider participating in the Global Meditation at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on 9/21.
So to start my countdown: "Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it." -Gandhi
Doing this countdown and participating in the global meditation on the 21st feels like it did to organize that film viewing eight years ago. Maybe it is insignificant, or maybe I'll end up seeing one of you strolling around in a sheet sometime soon, or maybe each of us, with our actions and intentions, makes a bigger difference than we could ever understand. I'll take my chances.
I hosted an event on 9/21/06 to show a film, “Satyagraha: 100 Years of Nonviolence.” The movie was released a couple weeks earlier, and my own interest in Gandhi inspired me to organize a public event to show the film. Only a few people showed up to the event, and although they were very gracious and enjoyed the film, I was a bit disappointed that more people didn’t show. But after I got home that night, I vividly remember this one moment: looking up at the dark sky so deep with stars, a silent understanding swept over me as the wind blew. I knew it was good that I’d spent the money and time to organize the event; it wasn’t the quantity of people that mattered. Gandhi himself was an example of how just one person can have a monumental impact.
A few weeks later, I received a card in the mail with a check that coincidentally almost exactly matched the money I’d spend on that evening. One of the attendees said she felt inspired by my actions, and she wanted to pay it forward.
Another man who attended borrowed a book of mine that evening, a great book about Gandhi’s life. The next time I saw this man, he was in full Gandhi garb walking through a public event in Santa Fe, hugging people, saying Gandhi-like things, reciting quotes. I saw him around town a few more times, always as the “Santa Fe Gandhi.” I never did get my book back, but it was true to its title: The Transformation of a Man. It was clear something had shifted in this man, enough to drive him to wrap himself in a sheet and spread peace through our community.
Gandhi is the human being in history that I’ve found most interesting because of the means with which he pursued his quest for India’s freedom. Nonviolence was not a strategy, or a tool to be picked up and put down; nonviolence was the movement itself. Nonviolence was what he cultivated through his most personal inner struggles and investigations, as well as in his most public talks and actions.
Satyagraha, the name Gandhi chose for the movement he led, means the pursuit of truth. Although the connection between truth and peace might not be immediately apparent, it certainly was to Gandhi. And as I’ve spent a great deal of my adult life in the investigation of both truth and peace, I too have found that they are deeply interconnected. When we wholeheartedly pursue truth, we arrive at peace. When we wholeheartedly pursue peace, we arrive at truth.
For each day of this countdown, I’ll share a favorite quote or maybe something else. Please join me in whatever way you feel called, and consider participating in the Global Meditation at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on 9/21.
So to start my countdown: "Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it." -Gandhi
Doing this countdown and participating in the global meditation on the 21st feels like it did to organize that film viewing eight years ago. Maybe it is insignificant, or maybe I'll end up seeing one of you strolling around in a sheet sometime soon, or maybe each of us, with our actions and intentions, makes a bigger difference than we could ever understand. I'll take my chances.
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