“It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to be friends to the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. All else is mere business.”
Words by a man called Mahatma Gandhi who brought one of the greatest empires in the world to its knees, through practicing a previously unheard method called “non-violent resistance”. Words that inspired a young black seminary student in Chester, Pennsylvania and gave him purpose & dared him to dream; the dream that was bigger than gaining equality for his people, it was the dream of true brotherhood that embraced and celebrated differences in appearance, thought, and belief.
Gandhi and King – both led nonviolent grassroots movements to tackle some of the greatest, most entrenched injustices of their times, indeed of all times; Britain’s colonial subjugation of India, and the racial discrimination of black Americans in the Jim Crow South of the United States. Both of those systems were built upon and fueled by the same principle; the principle of dehumanizing “the other”. Both were rooted in systems that relied on dividing people into “us” vs. “them,” with the superior “us” entitled to rule over the inferior “them.” And both systems were upended by the refusal of the leaders of these movements to engage in this false narrative; this “us” vs “them” thinking.
The history of the world is essentially a history of “us” vs “them”; one or the other tribe dehumanizing, subjugating, killing when essential – to get its way, to prove its right & its might. There is no culture, no civilization, no country that has not engaged in this. This is the game – we are told from the moment we are conscious enough to comprehend. And yet the two most revered leaders of our times are these two men who refused to play the game. Because they saw it to be a zero sum game; they understood that a poisoned tree can only ever bear a poisoned fruit, that hate can never drive out hate, only love can do that.
It takes great spiritual strength and practice to refuse the call of this seductive and addictive game, to reject this philosophy & psychology that is embedded in our limbic systems and our culture wars, this thinking of “us” vs. “them” where “us” is always right, always superior, always smart and always worthy of an absolute win, and “them” is always wrong, inferior, stupid, even sub-human. The thinking that has led to innumerable conflicts, wars, civil wars, the thinking that has engulfed our country & our world at this very moment.
The theme of today’s event is “Honoring Dr. King through Faith and Action”. So how do we honor the life of a man who did the hardest work of all – his refusal to dehumanize his opponent, when many of us, may I dare say, most of us, at this very moment are dehumanizing someone in our own hearts; someone we don’t agree with, someone whose lifestyle we cannot stand, someone whose politics we abhor. If we are to truly honor Dr. King, we need to stop demanding that our brothers – and sisters – take the speck out of their eyes and start recognizing that there is a log in our own.
“Mahatma”, in Hindi, means “great soul” and “King” – well, we all know what King means. I have often thought that this is not a coincidence that two of the most shining examples of spiritual strength in the modern times have such evocative and powerful monikers. These men did their jobs, they lived their lives and they walked the walk. It is now up to us to carry the task, to continue the walk.
So, let us leave here today not just inspired by their example, but committed to living it out—by seeing the humanity in others, even those we struggle to understand, and by stepping boldly into the work of justice and love. The journey is ours now, and the path forward begins with each of us.
I was invited to be a speaker at the celebration of the life of MLK Jr. by the Bay Shore Interfaith Council. The above is the full text of my speech.
Swati Srivastava is an immigrant and a multi award-winning writer, director, and voiceover artist. A filmmaker & storyteller, Swati turns ideas into experience. She is also the Director of Visual Media for a national non-profit and an environmentalist. She can be reached via Linkedin and swati@TiredAndBeatup.com