Making of GANDHI

It's quite common to come  up with something flamboyant, or magnificent, when trying to discover ones purpose.  The preference seems obvious between the Hero who risks his life helping passengers into life boats, or the drunk Captain who steers the ship into an iceberg.  What often gets overlooked is their relevance is equal.

Years ago my brother told me a story about how gandhi became GANDHI.  He said Gandhi was establishing himself as a lawyer, and wore suits instead of the traditional Indian dhoti we're accustomed to seeing him in.  One day he's riding on a bus and he gets harassed by some guy who didn't like the way he talked, or looked, or smelled.  Doesn't matter.  When little Gandhi got off the bus he was upset by how he'd been treated.  Big GANDHI emerged to correct it.

Whether the story is true or not doesn't matter (there is a documented incident on a train in South Africa quite similar).  What matters is the redundancy of the episode throughout history, and Gandhi's denial.

History is saturated with stories of injustice that inspires action against it.  In fact, you have to have the injustice first.  The guy who dissed Gandhi probably had a string of failed marriages.  He probably bullied every misfit in school.  In other words, his destiny was preparing him for the one incident that would matter, the one that takes place on a bus with a scrawny Indian lawyer.   The one that made gandhi, GANDHI.

When Gandhi boarded the bus that day he was thinking about making a case for a client, or when he'd be promoted to Partner.  He was thinking about the fine thread used to make his suit.  He was thinking like a lawyer, because that's what he thought he was.

When he got off, however, each of those thoughts became foreign.   His suit felt stiff.  His occupation, pretentious.  It was clear, without knowing why, that he was no longer a lawyer.  The reasons that motivated him to become a lawyer were adopted from the society perpetuating the need for lawyers.  They weren't real.  When that guy on the bus got in his face it was as if God himself had. That brief interaction awakened him to who he was.  He needed to be reminded of his place in the world.

Far too often, we ignore the guy on the bus.  But without him we don't have GANDHI.  "Purpose" isn't about what serves us, or gets us what we desire.  It's our role in the grand design.  We're grateful for kindness, and appreciative of beauty, because we understand the influence of their opposites.  The kid who was a bully in school who becomes a criminal as an adult didn't really 'become' anything at all.  Ask him. He'll tell you therapy never helped.

The purpose in each of us serves a design that exceeds us.
We immortalize Gandhi, and ignore theif they stand together.  
Gandhi knew that.  He taught that.

guy on the bus. We forget God's in all of it.  The one violent guy on the bus executed his aggression in front of the ten who wouldn't.  If the ten had rose as one he would have sat back down.  Ten who reject violence have more influence than one who doesn't

The purpose in each of us is designed to serve all of us.

Joan Osborne    "One of Us"