Bruder 534 Mahatma Postcolonial Quotations
Research two quotations from one or two postcolonial thinkers you have not mentioned in your previous discussion post. Interpret each of the quotes and what you have learned from these.
Example:
I chose Du Bois as my postcolonial thinker. William Edward Burghardt was an American author, sociologist, historian, and a civil right activist. He’s a Harvard graduate, and is the first African American to ever earn a doctorate degree. Throughout his life, he worked hard to earn equal rights for blacks. Not only did he defend African Americans, but he also demanded equal treatment for all minorities. The quote I chose was “Believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader, and fuller life.” This quote was thought to be his last message to the world before his death. The quote is very important to me because it encourages us to believe in life, and always push the boundaries for a greater, broader, and fuller life. This could also be connected to his work, and the injustice and racism that existed towards African Americans. The quote is a message of hope and ambition, a message that gives us hope for a better future, despite the difficulties and challenges that we might be facing in the present.
Another quote that I chose was “Children learn more from what you are than wha you teach.” This quote is extremely important to me because it proves how children are not born racist, but become racist due to the thoughts that their parents share with them. Moreover, the environment and culture that a child grows up in directly impacts his view of the world from an early age. This takes me to another quote from Nelson Mandela that says “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.” This quote also shows that parents have the power to choose love over hate, and teach their kids to love, instead of hate and racism. If we all learn to love and be compassionate towards each other, then the world would be in a much better place than it is today.
Mohandas (Mahatma) Karamchand Gandhiwas the world’s most prominent advocate of active nonviolent resistance/non-cooperation as a strategy used to change unjust laws through nonviolent civil disobedience of them. Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence became the inspiration and guiding light for many protest movements throughout the world, including Martin Luther King Jr.Despite popular belief, Gandhi did not begin his work as a political activist in India, rather, he began his political activism in South Africa, where he was a distinguished lawyer and leader in the Indian community (Moore & Bruder 534).
Mahatma Gandhi famously said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” I consider this to be one of Gandhi’s most inspirational quotes. What I think Gandhi meant when he said, “live as if you were to die tomorrow,” is that you shouldn’t be afraid to live your life the way you want to and that you should try new things. Essentially, you should live your life so that if you were to die tomorrow you would not have any regrets or wish you would have done something that you never got to do. When Gandhi said, “learn as if you were to live forever,” I believe that he was saying that you should learn everything you want to learn today, regardless of what others think. You should never not open a book or not research something because you are worried what others might think, you should want to learn anything and everything that you can because knowledge is power. I believe that this is an excellent mantra to live by. Personally, I try to live my life like this on a daily basis because I would hate to have any regrets or wish that I would have done something that I never made the time to do if I were to die tomorrow.I also spend every day learning anything and everything I can because I really enjoy learning and I truly do believe that knowledge is power.