From Arun Gandhi to My Young Friends In Assam

To My Young Friends In Assam

I am writing to you as an unknown person living in the United States. When I
was 12 years old I went to live with my grandfather, Mahatma Gandhi, in Sewagram
Ashram. I used to be very angry because while growing up in South Africa I was beaten
up by a gang of white boys and then a few months later by a gang of African boys. I
wanted to be strong and be able to fight back.
Gandhiji said to me that anger is like electric power. It can be useful if used
intelligently but very deadly if abused. So, just as we channel electric energy
intelligently and use it for the good of humanity we must channel the energy of anger
intelligently for the good of humanity. If we abuse electricity we destroy ourselves. The
same thing happens if we abuse anger. In the beginning it might seem that by abusing
anger we can frighten people into submission but ultimately it destroys us because it
generate a cycle of violence.
I learned this lesson and for many years I trained myself not to act in a moment of
anger. Every time I felt angry I wrote it all down in the book but I wrote it with the
intention of finding a solution to whatever it was that caused the problem. The solution
must always be one that both parties will be happy with. Anger is responsible for more
than 80 per cent of violence in human society. So, if we learn to manage our anger
intelligently and use the energy for the good of humanity we would be able to reduce the
level of violence very substantially.
I hope all of you will make an attempt to manage your anger intelligently and help
create a society where peace and harmony will prevail. With good wishes—

Arun Gandhi (This letter was sent to Vavani Sarma of Pennsylvania)