As a 12-year-old boy growing up in Georgia, William T. Randall despised the Japanese for attacking Pearl Harbor. But when Mahatma Gandhi won independence for India through nonviolent protest two years later, his view started to change.
Randall, a retired minister and professor, will be among the speakers next Saturday for Gandhi's birthday and the International Day of Nonviolence.
The program is being organized by Raj Kumar, founder and president of Gandhi International Institute for Peace, based in Honolulu, and the Indian-American Friendship Council.
Randall says he was profoundly influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, assassinated in 1948 after leading India to independence after two centuries of British rule. Gandhi, known as mahatma or "saint," pioneered the concept of "satyagraha" -- resistance to tyranny through peaceful noncooperation.
Randall will speak on how his views on the use of violence changed since he was taught as a youngster to hate wartime foes.
As a Christian missionary in Japan, he said, he developed respect for and an understanding of its people.
"I learned very acutely that to harbor revenge would only divide and separate," he said.
Gandhi believed "nonviolence needs more courage than violence," says Kumar. "He advised people not to fight in the name of God and religion. He emphasized that God does not belong to one society, religion or nation. God dwells in the heart of all human beings. Gandhi said, If you wish to see change in the world, change yourself. When we change, the world changes."
The community is invited to the International Day of Nonviolence celebration from 10 a.m. to noon next Saturday near the Mahatma Gandhi statue outside the Honolulu Zoo in Waikiki. E-mail Raj Kumar at rkumarhi@yahoo.com or visit www.gandhianpeace.com.
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