the orange little man

Showing me a flash card of the little Indian with the orange toga, I would instantly shout : Ghandi! But I fail to know what has he really accomplished or why he was always included into books like "Minds that Shaped our century" or "100 Influential people" So I have read up about Ghandi. I truely believe we should all be more Ghandi-ish or practise Ghandism. Call it what you like but it is the magic dust we all seem to lack in our lives.

Ghandi valued the right things in life. People ans spirituality. The lowest classes in Indian culture he call "the children of God" when no one would fight for them he embraced them as brothers. He always seeked God's guidance and often fasted for his nation, meditating for days. He wore the same clothing infront of Ministers as he did at home. Everyone was valued equal and loved equal. truly a father of the Nation.


The thing that captivated me most about Ghandi, wasn't his pledge to non-violence (his trademark in history) but rather his lifestyle. At the end of his life he lived n a fruitarian diet, only whore clothes that he spun himself and only owned as much as he could carry. I stopped to think about this? What if I roamed the earth bear foot only eating fruit? What would be in my bag of belongings? My resent move required 3 trips with different cars. In high school with the fake fire alarm going off in the girls ress at 2am, I was found in my pajamas standing on the Rugby field clutching my Bible. It was seen as the "right" thing to grab when escaping flames. Thinking back now, what a stupid thing to grab! You could always get another one and what happend to the commandment "have the scriptures written on the tablets of your heart"

Anyway, I think I am going to start giving my stuff away to seek a life of simplicity. Just think about how much of your time and energy is consumed by materialistic stuff. After all that is why we work, to acquire more stuff. But do we need all this stuff? Do I need to own the latest DVD, do I need to drink an express latte at the BP every morning? And if you eat fruit, you wont even need dish washing liquid, after all the packaging is edible! "Isn't that a little drastic?" I can hear you say. But Ghandi did it and he wasnt always so humble. he studieed law in London and wore the western suites. He ate meat in his time in South Africa, fighting segregation, but his return to his country made him recall what was important.

Ghandi refused to be consumed by the materialistic world we live in.He seeked the spiritual and the human bond life on earth has to offer. The things that don't fit into a backpack.