My Little Gandhi

 

Through my Personal  and Spiritual awakening, I had a little shadow. He is my son.  

It's interesting how becoming a parent changes your awareness. It  makes you more keenly aware of what a damaged place this world is. I went from wanting to protecting my child- to wanting to change the world… 

A world where violence-war- hatred-apathy-anger-chaos-cruelty-slander-gossip-revenge-abuse-neglect-  runs rampant.  

We are so assaulted by this- that we have become numb to the horror- we have actually developed a TOLERANCE to this dysfunction.  

I was bullied as a child, and lack of self esteem and insecurity kept me from taking my place as a leader in my life.I was a victim.

True Leadership partners with accountability- and that for me being accountable was a lot of work- however,  I was very critical as to why NO ONE was doing anything about it.   Little did I know that I was the someone who would become powerful enough to lead.

Lots of things inspired me but none as much as the movie  Gandhi. I spent the bulk of my life avoiding rules-criticizing the establishment. Gandhi was an attorney- he knew the rules and used them against the establishment- the intruders in his country-with peaceful, lawful disobedience….He was my kind of guy.  
I realized someone has to go first- and that someone was me….

My son- my little Gandhi- has watched me rise- to stand in the conviction of my truth. He has watched me be criticized and belittled for my beliefs and my social consciousness. He has seen firsthand the power of hate and fear. But as I told him a leader;a Spiritual warrior must continue to rise.

I told him that a leader has a bulls-eye on their butt.
A Leader is a target- so you have to have the courage to stand up- not just for ourselves- but for those who cannot stand and fight- the silent majority.  

Bullying is rampant in his school. No one was willing to address such a large problem.
The inmates were running the asylum.  

On a daily basis he was having a run in with a group of boys one especially that he referred to as- 'a damaged human being'. He applied all the 'strategies' that the school provided- but no one was supporting his efforts.
They were incredibly apathetic.  

One day he had enough; he got jumped after school and was forced to defend himself.   He said 'Mom, it was like dark chocolate- sweet and bitter at the same time'. I told him that overpowering another person can be addictive, this why violence only creates more violence. He and the boy and the principal met. He told the other boy “I will not allow you to spew your hate and unhappiness on me anymore”.. and with the resolve of a Leader- he communicated to the administration.  

He and I met with the entire teaching staff. He did not relent, and it took awhile for them to take us seriously. Since then they have provided this other boy with support and the help that he needs.  

Gandhi would be proud, he followed the chain of command- we applied positive pressure for accountability to the powers at large - we used the student handbook's rules and state laws to our advantage.  

There is a new campaign against hate and bullying at his school.
We are also starting a random acts of kindness campaign.  

Jarred said "Being a leader and having to go first is hard, but staying down and suffering is harder".  

That's my boy. :)    

Namaste,
Marianne  

 

Tags: bullying, kindness, love, leader, leadership, doing the right thing, gandhi