Born in 1869 in India, a wise man lived a life that we've all heard about. We've followed his advice, we've worshipped at the idea of him, and we've praised him for the life he lived. The same wise man died on January 30th, 1948, but he left so much more behind than just a memory. Known as Mahatma to the world, Gandhi, "the great-souled one", and his wisdom will forever be with us, so let’s make him proud.

"No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive"

We cannot live successfully in this world, intertwined as we are, if cultures attempt to be exclusive. All the places I've been, all the people I've met, and all the cultures I've come in contact with, I am more because of it. We would never learn to be better than we used to be if we never saw what it looks like on the other side. Many people life by the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side, but the grass is always greener where you water it. Comparisons between cultures tells us where to water our grass, and how to watch it grow.

"Action expresses priorities"

If your mom, dad, or a teacher hasn't said something of this manner to you while you were growing up then I'd be surprised. We usually hear the classic, "don't tell me you're sorry, show me you're sorry". When I was a kid I would scoff at the idea that I wasn’t believed when I said I'm sorry, but I had to show it too? Your actions define who you are, don't let that be a negative thing.

"A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble"

I'm sure many of us can admit we'd rather stay quiet in order to keep the peace than speak out and cause trouble, I'm one of those people. A friend of mine has always told me that noone will ever know your upset, uncomfortable, unhappy, or mad unless you say something to them. While in some cases I sway to the side of keeping quiet, I'm starting to think that keeping the peace isn't worth the silence, so we have to speak up.

“Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment”

Instilling fears in others isn’t an effective way to hold your power. Power is based upon respect, understanding, and patience from those of lesser power. Nobody will respect you, understand you, or have patience with you if you bully your way to the top of the pyramid (Donald Trump, anyone??). It’s more effective to gain power through gaining the respect of those people you are wishing to represent.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”

One of the hardest things to do is to forgive someone who didn’t ask for your forgiveness. The weight of holding a grudge against someone who has wronged you, isn’t worth the frustration it’ll cause you. Forgive people even if they don’t ask for your forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that you have to accept the person back into your life, just accept the fact that you don’t need to hold a grudge against someone.

There are thousands of quotes from Gandhi, but these five are ones that I believe (and I’m sure Gandhi would believe) we should base our lives around. At this time in our world I don’t think that Gandhi would be as proud of us as he should be. For the amount of time we’ve had to work on our acceptance, love, humanity, willingness to help, and our peace, we haven’t done as well as we should’ve done. We’ve made great strides, but now’s the time to keep working to better the world we live in, to make Gandhi proud.