When Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, stepped up to the podium in the McCrary Theatre on Nov. 7, the audience listened intently to his soft but powerful message of non-violence and its relation to terrorism.

Gandhi said that non-violence is often misinterpreted as being anti-war and anti-violence. He affirmed that these ideas were true, but that the idea of non-violence is much deeper.

Violence occurs first in one’s own mind, he said. This violence can be thinking badly of one’s self. Also, violence can occur when a person thinks badly about someone else. He called this type of violence “passive violence.”

Gandhi also explained that violence occurs within the mind as it becomes violence manifested in words and actions. He said, if people can control the violence that occurs within, this will reduce the violence that occurs outwardly.

“If you make the right choice, you can save this world from destruction,” Gandhi said. “You can create a world where peace and harmony prevail.”

Terrorism was also a topic of discussion during the evening as Gandhi explained how immediately after the attacks on Sept. 11 he wrote an article calling for Americans to step back and observe why the people of Al-Qaeda attacked the Untied States.

None of the news stations Gandhi approached agreed to publish the article but sent reporters seeking revenge instead of coming to peace with the terrorists.

­Gandhi said that if the United States had taken a step back to analyze why Al-Qaeda attacked, then America could have resolved the situation in a more diplomatic and less violent way.

Gandhi then said that it is U.S. foreign policy that help other countries as long as it is in America’s best interest. He said that the process of acting in one’s self interest is violence, which then leads to more violence.

“Our foreign policy in the United States is based on what is good for the United States,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi also pointed to history to explain some of the issues we face today. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the United States backed Osama bin Laden with military arms and intelligence support in order to contain socialism.

Once the Afghani’s held off the Soviets, the United States completely dropped support for bin Laden and ignored his further needs. After this, the seeds of violence were planted within bin Laden to eventually seek revenge against the United States, Gandhi said.

Gandhi also said that if the United States had followed a path of non-violence, the Iraq War would have played out differently.

Gandhi expressed his concerns regarding terrorism on an ending note of optimism, saying that we should seek to communicate openly with our enemies and admit our mistake about the War in Iraq to the international community.

“We may not be able to have a perfect society,” he said. “But we can substantially reduce the amount of violence today.”

Reporter: Parker McAllister - 11/14/07