Waiting for the Mahatma

Waiting for the Mahatma (and finding him in you and everyone around you)

For the past few years, I have been watching the cycle of violence in Middle East Asia, particularly between the Palestinians and the Israelis with increasing despair. Mahatma Gandhi’s saying “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind” seemed not only being ignored but also being proved true. I used to wonder if there would arise a leader among them who will lead these people to freedom through non-violent civil disobedience. For, that is the most effective way a huge suppressed majority can overcome a militarily strong minority, as Gandhi proved in vanquishing the British.

Over the last three weeks, it seems that Eqyptians found their Mahatma. They found him in each of one of them. They found him in a carpenter named Mahmood who needed medical treatment 7 times in 24 hours for injuries suffered at the hands of government-backed mobs, and who kept tottering off to the front lines every time as soon as he was treated and bandaged.

They found him in Maged, a 64-year-old doctor who relies upon a cane to walk, who hadn’t been previously involved in the protests, but when he heard about the government’s assault on peaceful pro-democracy protesters, something snapped. So he prepared his will and then drove 125 miles to Tahrir Square to volunteer to treat the injured.

They found him in Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, an 80 year old frail but fiery Arab feminist who for decades has fought female genital mutilation and who slept among the protestors in Tahrir Square.

They found him in the young men and women who cleaned up Tahrir Square of all the clutter and garbage every day and who promised to clean up their country once Mubarak is gone.

They were determined to be peaceful in their protests. And they did not betray their cause in the face of grave provocation by government backed thugs. They gave millions of people across their region and across the world a renewed sense of hope; that you do not have to resort to violence to prove your cause. It is my fervent hope that we see more and more such Mahatmas wherever there is oppression.