http://youtu.be/AnZ-3pF1kPY
300 million people in his country at the time, and Gandhi up
against the world's superpower, Britain, and yet he acted as though if he had
to work alone that he was going to work alone.
It was clear to him what needed to be done, the level of discipline, the
code of Unviolence spelled out in detail, the code requiring Unviolence even
when facing the cruelest opposition. By
all appearances, if Gandhi had to work alone, without people equally committed
to the vision, the goal, the means, that's what he would do; and that's what he
did do, at times of new direction and movement startup, and building.
And that's how Dr. King was and it's clear that that's how
Alice Paul was in the women's suffrage movement. She didn't play. If people showed up to work as she did, to
subordinate ego as she did, to devote their lives as she was, as the mission
required, they were eagerly welcomed. But
if that isn't why they were there, anything less, they were unwelcome; sisters
all! But unwelcome.
On the river here, the Potomac, as on the Schuylkill, as on
the Charles up in Boston, are these overprivileged kids like I was in a sport
that I tried in college. I forget
exactly what it's called, rowing, I
guess. The boats are called shells, I
think. It's an awful sport, unless you
like pain a lot, but imagine you're in one of those boats and it's desperately
important that you get to a destination.
It's a four-person boat, the wind isn't bad, you can row it to the
destination if you have to.
Of course you would like three people that were equally as
dependable, as committed, as reliable, as focused as you, in getting to the
goal. And you might pay any personal price
to get such people in the boat with you.
But if what's available is people that, 'Oh, for part of the trip of
they'll focus, for part of the trip they'll be de-focused and thinking about
other things, not pulling very hard.
Later on they might like not like the direction, they might want to
argue about the goal, they might row toward a different goal.’ You're gonna pray like crazy that you have
the discipline and good fortune to see such brothers and sisters before they
ever get into the boat; and if what's available is the latter, and those who
share your vision, commitment, discipline and urgency are not available, you’re
going to row alone. Right?
Is that antisocial?
It's common sense. It's common
humanity isn't it?
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