Just Ordinary People

“The weapon of nonviolence does not need supermen or superwomen to wield it; even beings of common clay can use it and have used it before this with success.“ Mohandas Gandhi

When stories are told about Gandhi and other leaders, they are often portrayed as saints. You might get the idea that they were always knew what they were doing, and that they never made mistakes. The truth is that they were people just like us. They made mistakes all the time. In fact, making mistakes was how they learned how to do nonviolent resistance. They had to try lots of ideas that didn’t work in order to find the ones that did.

If you bring a group of people together to work on something that everyone cares deeply about, it’s going to be lively. People will have different ideas about how to move forward. Doubts will arise about particular actions and people. There will be disagreements, jealousy, and fighting between members, as there have been in all great movements. That doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. It’s just the way the process goes. “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress,” Gandhi observed.