You May Never Know What Results Come Of Your Actions

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“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.” – Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was an anti-war activist and primary leader of India’s independence movement in British-ruled India that would influence the world. Inspiring and promoting nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi inspired movements for civil rights and led India to independence. “Mahatma” is an honorific term that means “high-souled” or “venerable,” given to him in South Africa in 1914.

His first act of civil disobedience happened during a train trip to Pretoria when a white man objected to his presence in the first-class railway compartment. Having bought a ticket for that particular compartment, Gandhi asserted his rights and was forcibly thrown off the train as consequence. This added to his conviction of devoting himself to end the “deep disease of color prejudice.”

After the seminal moment, he had led movements and fought against unfair restrictions in South Africa. But it was back in his homeland when he rose as a leading figure in the Indian home-rule movement, following the Massacre of Amritsar where 400 unarmed demonstrators were gunned down by the British troops. He called for mass boycotts on British-manufactured supplies and urged his fellow Indians to defy British rules.

Inevitably, he was arrested and sentenced to a six-year imprisonment after pleading guilty to three courts of sedition. Undaunted, he wrote to Lord Irwin days before the march to the British viceroy, “My ambition is no less than to convert the British people through non-violence and thus make them see the wrong they have done to India.”