Dinner with Mahatma Gandhi: Lessons in Nonviolence

Introduction: Why Gandhi?

If I could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, it would most definitely be Mohandas K. Gandhi. Gandhi turned the world upside down in the most remarkable fashion: without the use of any violence at all. His life and philosophy represent a unique force in human history — one that continues to inspire people across the globe.

Gandhi's India and the British Colonial Rule

Gandhi grew up in an India unjustly ruled by the British, who had invaded, colonized, and controlled the lives of hundreds of millions of people thousands of miles away from their relatively small homeland. The British treated Indians as second-class subjects and reinforced racial stereotypes every day they maintained control of the subcontinent. They created exclusive districts for themselves — known as cantonment areas — and did not permit Indians to enter them. This daily reality of humiliation and subjugation formed the backdrop of Gandhi's early life.

A Nonviolent Freedom Movement

Gandhi grew up amidst this injustice and knew he had to make a change. He studied to become a lawyer and first practiced in South Africa, where he fought against apartheid. Realizing that he must also help his own people, he returned to India and launched a freedom movement unique in world history: it was entirely nonviolent. He and his followers simply resisted the British — they did not fight them.

Gandhi's strategic thinking extended beyond India's borders as well. When Adolf Hitler started World War II, Gandhi actually halted the Indian independence movement and asked Indians to support the British rather than exploit their weakness. His reasoning — which proved correct — was that Hitler represented a far more dangerous evil. The British could be dealt with later, once the greater threat was defeated.