Mahatma Gandhi

Rhonda rented the movie Gandhi, released in 1982. I vaguely remember seeing clips of the film in high school, but I was not prepared for the deeply emotional response I would have as we watched tonight. Especially toward the end, when he fasted for the end of violence between Hindus and Muslims, his devotion to forgiveness and non-violence moved me to tears. I'm not sure I could ever possess such greatness of character as he demonstrated throughout his life.

In the film, Gandhi said to man who killed a Muslim child in retaliation for the death of his own son by Muslims, "I know a way out of hell. Find a child, a child whose mother and father have been killed, a little boy about this high, and raise him as your own. Only be sure that he is a Muslim and that you raise him as one." Who knows if Gandhi ever truly uttered those words? Nevertheless, such deep forgiveness truly is divine.

An internet search gives the source for this quote as a Reader's Digest article from February 1992, though I have not yet confirmed it.