Eating is an agricultural act - Wendell Berry

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

be the change (BTC)

obama massively popularised "be the change".
the quotations page says that gandhi said - "You must be the change you want to see in the world."
there are many websites with BTC fundas.
1. be the change
2. be the change inc
3. the be the change symposium

CNN ran (runs?!) a massive campaign around BTC.
massive amounts of collateral has been made with BTC.
it is becoming the favourite slogan of advertisers.
kate edmonson has a beautiful song around BTC.

so imagine my consternation and surprise when i saw this question.
the question raiser (Enuga Reddy) is a renowned scholar of MKG.
after reading the response, i decided to ask around.

so after checking with a few other scholars, it is confirmed.
the many variations of the BTC quotes DO NOT appear in the collected works of mahatma gandhi.
it is likely that MKG may have said something to that effect in gujarati and in passing and has been paraphrased by arun gandhi.

not that it really matters much.
BTC is something that MKG is likely to have said and surely enough he lived it more than anyone else.

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