Mahatma Gandhi Community Forum

School wide non-violence Intitative

My son, age 6, and I live in a what is considered a rough neighborhood. I don't know I think Americans are spoiled. We don't have much but have each other, plenty of love , our garden and each other. I work in his school so two years ago we began the Legacy Garden, We donated plants that had been in our family for 30 or more years.We wanted the students to take pride in their school and community. The Gardner is a small success. This year we began a nonviolence initiative. Three young people were shot in the neighborhood over summer and there are gangs trying to lure the kids into drugs and violence. My son and I thought about moving and decided to stay and try an affect some sort of positive change. The classes have been signing a nonviolence pledge and when that is complete the whole school will sign one. We are doing this to coincide with Gandhi's Birthday. We know we have a a long and arduous journey to have this initiative actually begin to take effect . I am the only teacher that lives in the neighborhood so the students know I have a stake in the community. The know me as the man who leads science and life lessons by the river, the man who can be seen walking to the store or library. We don't expect to change the culture of the community or to change 400 students , we just hope to help maybe one student believe them selves .

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Peace go with you.

Tags: Gandhi, birthday, garden, initiative, nonviolence, school

0 members like this

Comment

You need to be a member of GandhiTopia to add comments!

Join GandhiTopia

Comment by Thomas Mitchell Glen on November 30, 2010 at 8:53am: Thee great spiirit of Gandhi is indeed within you and will not fail you. Shanti

Comment by Pamela Jambeck on November 30, 2010 at 4:16am: One by one by one....and you have taken that vow and risk. I commend you and your son for living out your strong intentions. You WILL make a difference. Blessings be upon you two for your commitment! If we all did just one meaningful thing....what a HUGE difference we could make and what a world we'd see. Keep on keeping on! Namaste!

Comment by David Slesinger on October 11, 2010 at 2:07pm: I live in Baltimore. Please call sometime. 410-499-5403

Comment by ken robinson on September 28, 2010 at 2:01pm: Thank you for your kind words Balamurali-
where there is peace there is hope

Comment by Balamurali Balaji on September 28, 2010 at 12:33pm: It is heartening to know that American schools are turning non-violent. Every time, we heard about the news of shootouts in schools, besides other violence, mostly unknown to the rest of the world, people like us feel a sense of worry.

The non-violence pledge drive must happen more in America.