Inspiration of the day

Gandhi’s life is a road map to peaceful resistance, a map that has been used since then in several countries, and with great success.  In countries with brutal, repressive dictatorships, it has been less successful.

Where can I apply this in my life?
At your local school board level, are your childresn getting the education you think they should be getting?  Is there a proper balance between school work and homework, recess and class time?  Are your children getting the subject matters that are important to you, possibly including foreign languages, music, art, physical education, health education, etc…

If not, do the same thing – talk to the board members and ask why.  If you can’t get what you feel you children should be getting, you will have to find other like-minded parents and start sitting in the board meetings.  Perhaps you will have to run for the board yourself.  But yelling and screaming, violence and anger will not get you what you want.

You can see the pattern of the quote in the actions that transpire within the situation.  If you’ve never been to a school board meeting or anything else like that, it can be a real eye opener.

You should probably do that a few times to familiarize yourself with the procedures and processes before you dive in. If you can keep it up, they will eventually fail and you will win.  Popular opinion and a smart media strategy can also work wonders.  All that is left is to outlast them, to turn the public in your favor, and victory will be yours.

This technique of peaceful resistance can be used in most situations, although you will have to admit that there are external forces at work.  There might not be enough money, there might be a lack of qualified people, or a lack of resources in general.

To these things you must yield, as the grass must yield to the wind.  A peaceful protest of a flood will only get you wet.  As always, logic and reason must prevail, but there is room for creativity.

You can fight city hall, and it won’t be easy.  But it can be done, with the highest of ethical standards and yield the best of results, if a proper path is followed.