“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
I love this Gandhi quote first and foremost because it cracks me up. I picture this skinny little Indian man winning his movement to get The Mighty British Empire to leave India, and I just love it. To me, this quote seems a succinct statement of his simple strategy of perseverance.
Those really big and seemingly impossible dreams only have life if you can wait out getting ignored, laughed at, and fought. So tempting it is to back off, shut up, and hide when any one of those things start to happen, but your win is waiting on the other side of humiliation. Persevere, and both the goal and some hard earned humility come closer and closer.
Nine days ago, out of nowhere I decided to start these countdown posts toward the International Day of Peace. The idea struck me, and I just went with it. It’s been interesting to sift through quotes and undertake little writing explorations into different aspects of peace, and it amazes me how peace keeps revealing itself to be such a dynamic, deep, and even paradoxical concept.
And as dedicated to peace as I am and have been for decades, there are those times when an uncomfortable wave of something akin to shame washes over me. I get this feeling that I’m just getting lost in a silly fantasy. How naïve to even believe real and true peace is possible between human beings, on a wide scale, and in this day and age. How arrogant to believe that “little insignificant me” could play any part whatsoever in a transformation so huge. How absolutely ridiculous. I should simply ignore those ideas and tugs within myself; I should laugh at them; I should fight them.
But you know what I say: fuck that. Excuse my language, but I like to set a clear and harsh boundary with that sort-of thinking. Sure, it’s got news reports, public opinion, and all sorts of evidence on its side, but it’s a pit of despair I’m just not willing to jump into. I choose to persevere.
Wishing each of you a peaceful Sunday. xo
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