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“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi Arguably one of the most admirable, influential, and prophetic teachers of all time, Mahatma Gandhi, for me, epitomizes the notion of advocating for peace and love for all beings through nonviolent means. His life’s work is a constant inspiration and reminder that ordinary men and women can and do accomplish extraordinary things. If only we all believed as he did – that we could. As I’ve written recently, I floundered a bit throughout my college years. And I remember quite clearly when all that floundering began to feel less like exploration and more like failure. Selflimiting and judgmental beliefs began to creep into my consciousness, taking up residence in the spaces where at one time, not that long before, thoughts of possibility and a quiet confidence were the norm. It happened quickly and unceremoniously. Seemingly overnight, I transformed from an adolescent girl with a life of possibility laid out before her, into a young woman who questioned the point of it all. Education, I believed, was wasted on the youth. Of course, now I am a stark believer that nothing – neither the good, nor the seemingly bad – is ever wasted. Our choices and experiences are the threads from which the tapestry of our lives is sewn. Without each and every one of those individual threads, the bigger picture – the one that only comes into focus when we finally step back and take a good look – would in fact, be incomplete. So, in essence, there is no good or bad. Just that which takes us toward the light – toward peace, and that which takes us away from it. But let’s not forget that we need the darkness to appreciate the light. We need the not knowing and the not believing, to appreciate when we finally do. And we need the teachers, the great masters who have come before us shining their light into our darkness so that we too, can see. Evolution is a timely process. Just ask Darwin. But change, like the ticking of a clock, is constant. Every day, every hour, in every fleeting moment, we are in a perpetual state of fluctuation. This, my friends, is a good thing! We are learning with each step we take, with each interaction with others, with each mishap and each triumph. And each of these will inform where we go and what we do next. Gandhi believed so fiercely in the power of our thoughts, our words, and our actions, that he bet his life on them. More than once! He believed then, as I do now, that each and every one of us – every one of you – is capable of greatness. What you learn now, and how you apply it, willforever influence and impact your life and the lives of all others. So choose wisely. Act kindly, and remember that you have the ability to create far and wide global peace and love within you right now. Go get started!
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