Mohandes Gandhi

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This inspiring quote is often attributed to Mohandes Gandhi, the Hindu leader and social reformer that changed the world with his teachings of nonviolence, tolerance, and faith. Many powerful world leaders have said this compelling quote. It is everywhere, from coffee mugs, to bumper stickers, to t-shirts. But did Gandhi ever actually this? If you know anything about Gandhi and the life he lived, this quote definitely sounds like him. In my senior year of high school I took a class called Academic Decathlon. The subject that we studied and competed in that year was India, so we learned a lot about Gandhi. One of the most unforgettable things I remember about him is his dedication. His entire life was him being the change he wanted to see. He didn 't back down from hard things. He once fasted 21 days just to bring unity between Hindus and Muslims and in 1930, he led the Salt March, a 24-day march that was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in order to protect British rule in India. If this quote wasn 't said directly by Gandhi, I don 't doubt that he ever said something similar to it. In fact, I can quite confidently say that he would believe in it. The quote causes anyone who lives by it to stop

The only semi-reliable evidence that he directly said this is his grandson, Arun Gandhi. Fifty years after Gandhi 's death, articles were published quoting Arun, who was quoting Gandhi using this quote. However, Arun later stated that he was only paraphrasing his grandfather, making this invaluable in proving that Gandhi ever said this quote. (Ackers). The closest verified statement from Gandhi is this: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him... We need not wait to see what others do.”