Non Violence
Dr.Arun Gandhi,grandson of M.K.Gandhi and founder of M.K Gandhi Institute of Non-Violence,in his June 9 lecture at the University of Puerto Rico,shared the following story of "Non-violence in parenting" :I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban,South Africa,in the middle of the sugar plantations.We were deep in the country and had no neighbours,so my two sisters and I would look forward to town to visit friends or go to the movies.
One day,my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference,and I jumped at the chance.Since I was going to town my Mother gave me a list of groceries she needed,and since I had all day in town,my father asked me to take care of several pending chores,such as getting car serviced.When I dropped my father off that morning,he said,'I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m..and we will go home together.'After hurriedly completing my chores,I went straight to the nearest movie theatre.I got engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that i forgot the time.It was 5:30 p.m., before I remembered.By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me,it was 6:00.He anxiously asked me,"Why were you late?' I was so ashamed of telling him that i was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said "The car wasn't ready,soI had to wait",not realising that he has already called the garage.When he caught me with the lie,he said:"There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth.In order to figure out where I went wrong with you,I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'
So,dressed in his suit and dress shoes,he began to walk home in the dark on mostly uppaved,unlit roads.I couldn't leave him,so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie I uttered.I decided then and there that I was not going to lie again.I often think about that episode and wonder if he had punished me the way we punish our children,whether I would have learnt a lesson at all.I don't think so.I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing.But this single Non-violence action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday.That is the power of Non-Violence."
This is one of the stories very close to me and moved me a lot.
One day,my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference,and I jumped at the chance.Since I was going to town my Mother gave me a list of groceries she needed,and since I had all day in town,my father asked me to take care of several pending chores,such as getting car serviced.When I dropped my father off that morning,he said,'I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m..and we will go home together.'After hurriedly completing my chores,I went straight to the nearest movie theatre.I got engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that i forgot the time.It was 5:30 p.m., before I remembered.By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me,it was 6:00.He anxiously asked me,"Why were you late?' I was so ashamed of telling him that i was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said "The car wasn't ready,soI had to wait",not realising that he has already called the garage.When he caught me with the lie,he said:"There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth.In order to figure out where I went wrong with you,I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'
So,dressed in his suit and dress shoes,he began to walk home in the dark on mostly uppaved,unlit roads.I couldn't leave him,so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie I uttered.I decided then and there that I was not going to lie again.I often think about that episode and wonder if he had punished me the way we punish our children,whether I would have learnt a lesson at all.I don't think so.I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing.But this single Non-violence action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday.That is the power of Non-Violence."
This is one of the stories very close to me and moved me a lot.
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