Be The Change

There is an apocryphal story about Mahatma Gandhi that comes to mind when thinking about peacemaking and our responsibility to it.

Gandhi was not just a political and spiritual leader, he was also quite wise and people traveled from all over to ask his help with problems both small and large.

One day a peasant woman came to visit Gandhi. She brought with her young son. She told Gandhi that her son was addicted to sweets. The sugar made him hyper and too wild to attend school. She hoped Gandhi would tell her son to stop eating sugar. She was sure that her son would listen to him.

Gandhi paused and then told the woman to come back in one week.

She came back one week later. Gandhi took the little boy, sat him on his lap and said simply, “Please do not eat sugar. It is bad for you.”

The boy smiled, promised to stop and returned back to his mother. His mother was understandably stunned. She had traveled over 100 miles. It was a difficult journey. Bewildered she approached Gandhi and asked,

“Why didn’t you just tell him to quit eating sugar last week when I first approached you?”

Gandhi smiled and said patiently, “Last week, I too, was still eating sugar. … We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

That story inspired me to get into the field, to come to BYU-Hawaii and will be the guiding compass for me as a teach the class.