The Beginning of My Understanding

"That is why I can take the keenest interest in discussing vitamins and leafy vegetables and unpolished rice.  That is why it has become a matter of absorbing interest to me to find out how best to clean our latrines, how best to save our people from the heinous sin of fouling Mother Earth every morning.  I do not quite see how thinking of these necessary problems and finding a solution for them has no political significance and how an examination of the financial policy of Government has necessarily a political bearing." - 'A Fatal Fallacy,' Harijan, 11 Jan. 1936

I believe this is the statement that began my understanding of Gandhi.

I am not a political creature.  I know that many of you are.

The grand scheme of things is not my focus.  The dark and dirty corners of my life are.

I have organized and lead mass protests, but the energy and time I spent doing so were not as valuable as the time I spend each morning doing my dishes.  Even if the results of the protest were positive and productive, my own household clean and well organized, living a life of service to my family and friends, helping those around me who struggle to joyously accomplish the very valuable day to day tasks that we are all faced with, brings me closer to an understanding of what God is calling me to do.

When I read about Gandhi's vision of non-attachment to the things of the world, I begin to understand when I think about all the things I am responsible for maintaining in my family's life.  Simply keeping that much stuff clean often seems like a nearly overwhelming burden.  Less stuff means more time to contemplate my navel and less time sweeping the floor.

But this is what I have been given, right now.  And least you misunderstand me, I love driving my kids to school, and picking up the trash they leave in the living room, and cooking the meals even when they hate what I have cooked and dig into the pantry for the Hot Cheetos®.