People often debate whether systems or statuses quo that are evil and unjust can be overthrown by peaceful means – or whether violence is sometimes the only course of action to achieve that goal. As a writer, teacher, and peaceful law-abiding human being, I am inclined to vote for the former option.

Of course I do not live under a political or economic system that is totalitarian or oppressive or one whose laws and apparatus are geared toward forceful subjugation of others. I did not live under slavery or the Holocaust or during all the various countless reigns of terror perpetrated throughout history by one group over another – whether the criterion was race or religion or sect or tribe or class or caste or nationality.

Perhaps that is why I can eagerly select peaceful means over violent ones. I am also mindful that so many innocents get swept under, and away, when violence becomes the medium to bring about change.  And I am also mindful of the historical record that violent revolution often in turn creates a precedent that once unleashed can spiral out of control and cause an unending domino effect that undermines even lawful processes. The excesses of the French and Cuban revolutions are two relatively “recent” examples of this ( “recent in the context of human history).

For these and other reasons, I hold dearly the examples of two giants whose main modus operandi to dismantle oppression and institutionalized injustice was not violence but peaceful protest. Mohandas K. Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King were in no way cowards. It requires bravery, stamina, determination, and resilience to put one’s life on the line, armed with nothing but words and a message, awakening people to a cause that is just and noble.

Their words and their sense of equity for all, not just for those whose rights they so vigorously championed, will always be a beacon of hope and an inspiration to those, who like me, prefer non-violent change to guns, bombs, and warfare – at least as a first line of attack on evil, corrupt, and unjust systems.

Most of us emote when we hear that someone has taken his or her own life, but when a celebrity takes his, the news media bombards us with the inevitable coverage. The soul-searching, the analysis, and the incredulity continue for a while… then abates until another icon repeats the tragedy.

Perhaps, one reason that the suicide of a celebrity is more amazing to so many is that many still cling to the notion that money and fame can solve all of the needs of a mortal to live a blessed and fulfilled life. Truth be told, money and status do indeed add to the pleasures of life – but they do not guarantee the full level of equilibrium that a human being needs to be satisfied.