| Mohandas Gandhi's Glasses | |
|---|---|
|
Origin |
Mohandas Gandhi |
|
Type |
Glasses |
|
Effects |
One is immersed in and resultingly becomes unable to avoid confronting injustice |
|
Downsides |
Attempts to partition equality for all may exclude or alienate others |
|
Activation |
Wearing in a legal / governmental setting |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 13 |
|
Section |
|
|
Date of Collection |
September 21, 1978 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (from Sanskrit, meaning great-souled, or venerable), first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used throughout the world.
Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, Gandhi trained in the law at the Inner Temple in London and was called to the bar at the age of 22. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, Gandhi moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to live in South Africa for 21 years. Here, Gandhi raised a family and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights.
Gandhi focused his attention on Indians and Africans while he was in South Africa. Initially, Gandhi was not interested in politics, but this changed after he was discriminated against and bullied, such as by being thrown out of a train coach due to his skin color by a white train official. In 1903, Gandhi started the Indian Opinion, a journal that carried news of Indians in South Africa, Indians in India with articles on all subjects -social, moral and intellectual. Each issue was multi-lingual and carried material in English, Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil. In 1906, when the Bambatha Rebellion broke out in the colony of Natal, the then 36-year-old Gandhi, despite sympathizing with the Zulu rebels, encouraged Indian South Africans to form a volunteer stretcher-bearer unit. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India and soon set about organizing peasants, farmers, and urban laborers to protest against discrimination and excessive land tax.
Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism was challenged in the early 1940s by a Muslim nationalism which demanded a separate homeland for Muslims within British India. In August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Abstaining from the official celebration of independence, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to alleviate distress. In the months following, he undertook several hunger strikes to stop the religious violence. The last of these was begun in Delhi on 12 January 1948, when Gandhi was 78. The belief that Gandhi had been too resolute in his defense of both Pakistan and Indian Muslims spread among some Hindus in India. Among these was Nathuram Godse, a militant Hindu nationalist from Pune, western India, who assassinated Gandhi by firing three bullets into his chest at an interfaith prayer meeting in Delhi on 30 January 1948.
Effects[]
Wearer sees injustice and inequality of all types stand out in clear, stark contrast to previous struggles. It does not differentiate from natural misery (sickness, trauma) but instead singles out hatreds borne from conflict between others. To assure they are not forgotten as quick glimpses, the scenes they witness repeatedly play behind their eyes to keep the thoughts fresh at the forefront of attention. The most salient way to diminish their nerves is confronting the issue as an advocate for the downtrodden.
Many will focus on reducing differences between the victim, perpetrators and society which blossomed such dissonance. Most attempts will be peacefully managed without result to harm, even avoiding retaliation to instead preach forgiveness. Going for unilateral cooperation to place all peoples at the same standing may ironically exclude some by not fully understanding their individual desires. Decision making defers to the golden rule of treating all as one wishes they were, but at times avoids the platinum rule of treating others in regards to their own morals.