These days, my daughter and I are playing the following game. I think of someone, real or fictitious, and give her clues one at a time and allow her to formulate a guess.
Are you ready? Read one clue at a time and only move on to the next word if you cannot figure it out. Okay, here goes:
Principled
Dedicated
Egalitarian
Humanitarian
Non-violent
Lawyer
Politician
Canadian
South Asian
… Any guesses who I am talking about?
Until I mentioned "Canadian" (or perhaps even "politician"), you probably had Mahatma Gandhi in mind.
The answer? The Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh, Canada's most prominent South Asian politician and egalitarian. He is one remarkable human being, and the two are not entirely dissimilar in the way in which they have chosen to live their lives.
To be sure, there are differences between them, particularly when the scale and scope of their respective achievements and personal sacrifices are considered. Mahatma Gandhi is the rarest of human beings, the kind that generations of civilization could only hope to see again. He inspired both greatness and great change, the likes of which are nearly impossible for most to contemplate achieving.
And yet, if we focus the lens on character, moral compass, values and whole-hearted dedication, there are some shared similarities.
Both crossed oceans to chart their own destinies, one to South Africa en route back to India to lead the most inspiring of revolutions against colonial rule, the other to Canada as a trailblazer of human rights believing in the equality of all.
Both self-made, and in many ways self-taught men, they shirked convention and took difficult and potentially unpopular positions in pursuit of greater ideals, whether by burning all foreign-made clothing and spinning home-made cloth or by denouncing extremism within the community and suffering the inevitable backlash.
Both made an unwavering commitment to the principle of non-violence suffering tremendous personal risk and, whether by hunger strikes or actual physical attacks, serious harm in order to achieve it.
Both represent all that we value in a democracy, in liberty and in justice, including the right to be who we are with all the attendant rights and freedoms.
Both even have a great sense of humour! Gandhi is known for once having said, “I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.” One of the hallmarks of a sense of humour is the ability to laugh at oneself, and in North America, high profile politicians who can take it make appearances on programs like This Hour has 22 Minutes or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for some good-natured ribbing. Gandhi never had quite this opportunity, but on his official website, Ujjal Dosanjh has posted a hilarious video of an “interview” he granted to Stephen Colbert. Check it out:
http://ujjaldosanjh.liberal.ca/page/2/
Many of these similarities are hardly the result of pure chance or coincidence.
In 1973, years before he became a cabinet minister, Ujjal Dosanjh put down his legal textbooks during the winter holidays and picked up Gandhi’s autobiography. Though born in India, the young law student had never read the seminal work of his country’s revered pacifist, and those evenings by the fireplace became a turning point in his political thinking.
The rejection of violence as a political tool has been a key feature of Mr. Dosanjh’s career, which included stints as premier of British Columbia and federal health minister, and is a central idea in a new documentary about his life. [See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ujjal-dosanjh-stands-up-to-extremism-in-life-politics-and-on-film/article1697101/]
The documentary about the life of Ujjal Dosanjh, Travelling Light: A Journey with Ujjal Dosanjh, is currently in post-production and will air on OMNI in the near future.
Ujjal Dosanjh’s early formed political views made him a vocal opponent of violence and extremism by Sikhs who advocated for an independent state of Punjab, or Khalistan. In 1985, he was beaten in the parking lot of his law practice by someone wielding an iron bar and suffered a broken hand and head injuries requiring 80 stitches. Most people would stop broadcasting their views. Not Mr. Dosanjh. In 1999, a burning Molotov cocktail was left burning on a table in his constituency office. And earlier this year, he received death threats after an interview in which he suggested that extremism is on the rise again in Canada. He has extended his principles to condemn other groups that espouse violence, including Tamil Tigers and Islamic radicals. On other fronts, he was the first provincial leader to march in a gay pride parade, he is an ardent champion of the universality of the Canadian health care system, and still adopts causes both here and abroad, now focusing his attention on the stateless plight of the Roma in Europe. These views and actions speak volumes about the character of a man.
I recently had an opportunity to meet Mr. Dosanjh. He was the keynote speaker at the South Asian Bar Association Awards (SABA) Gala event. I shook his hand and spoke of my admiration for him. But, in the few moments that I had his attention, I could hardly convey what I really wanted to.
So Mr. Dosanjh, if you are reading this, this one’s for you.
The motivation to succeed derives from the burning need to achieve a objective. Napoleon Hill wrote, No matter what the brain of dude can have a baby and believe that, the brain can achieve.It really is genuine that and we don't really know what we have now received until eventually we shed it, nevertheless it is also accurate that we do not know what we've been missing out on till it occurs.
Posted by: Supra Cuban | 03/01/2011 at 07:36 PM
It's like the game we were playing all the time :D It's fun and enjoyable. Thanks
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