A final fast concludes

January 18, 2023

Today I plan to end my five-day fast, just like Gandhi did 75 years ago. It was his last fast, in New Delhi, and a newspaper report quotes him as telling the crowd that it was his “intense wish” to “live the full span of life, doing service of humanity,” and that would be “at least 125 years.” Of course, he didn't know he had less than two weeks to live.

I'm deeply moved by Gandhi's efforts for peace in the final year of his life. He was a perennial optimist, always thinking the best of people, but the partition of India left a staggering amount of evidence to refute him. Death and destruction was everywhere, and his message of peace was rejected by those consumed by thoughts of revenge. There were even those who chanted during his last fast, “Let Gandhi die!”

The idea didn't deter him. Speaking the night before the fast began, Gandhi said, “Death for me would be a glorious deliverance rather than that I should be a helpless witness to the destruction of India.” Gandhi's final fast was an indefinite one, and it pushed his 78-year-old body to its limits; his kidneys started shutting down. After giving so much for his country for so many decades, he could only offer up his internal organs.

Finally, on January 18th, 100+ local leaders produced an agreement that they, themselves, with no help from the government or police, would guarantee the peace*. They would lead by example. And Gandhi broke his fast.

(*This is a vast oversimplification of the final fast. Much better reading is here)

What behavior of yours do you hope others will be inspired to copy?