Our obsession with terrorism has driven many of us into such a frenzy of fear that it often borders on the ridiculous. Last year Lynnea Bylund posted to her Catalyst blog Time To Toss The Terrorist Fear Blather, wherein she correctly pointed out that, “… peanuts and bathtub drownings are by far more dangerous to Americans at home than terrorists,” statistically speaking. But the other day I encountered an even more fundamental variety of this fear.
I met a middle-aged gentleman from the upper middle class economic. He was very curious about my frequent travels and questioned me at length about a variety of places I had journeyed to. So I asked him: “Tell me about your travels?”
“Oh, I haven’t been anywhere outside the United States,” he said quite firmly.
“Why not? Don’t you like to travel?”
“Yes,” he said and added. “But I am afraid. All these terrorists stalking us Americans and I don’t want to die yet.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Where are these terrorists?”
“Oh, all over the world,” he replied. And they are just waiting for Americans to leave the country so they can kill them.”
I was so shocked by this bald statement that I blurted out: “That is unadulterated BS! I think there are far more terrorists in our cities and our own American streets than in the rest of the world.”
“What do you mean?,” he asked quite shocked.
Ed note: The following is a transcript of an interview by ISKRA staff with Arun Gandhi that took place on March 19, 2013. Arun is the grandson of Mohandas (Mahatma)Gandhi and heads the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence located in Rochester, NY. He has previously made appearances in Brilliant as well as Grand Forks and will be speaking at the Brilliant Cultural Centre on May 17, 2013. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to interview Arun and ask him several questions provided by our ISKRA staff as well as members of the broader Doukhobor community. It was truly a pleasure to converse with this soft spoken advocate of peace and nonviolence. We were impressed with the simplicity and wisdom contained in the philosophical views that he shared with us. We encourage our readers to reflect on his comments.
For Immediate Release, London, UK – Jul 26, 2012 – 
Sixty years after his death a portion of Gandhiji’s ashes, stashed away by Madalsa and Shriman Narayan, the daughter and son-in-law of Jamnalal Bajaj, will be immersed at Chowpati Beach in Mumbai. Although I will be thousands of miles away in the United States the memories of sixty years ago will be refreshed and the day will be as poignant as January 30, 1948. In 1969 when the world celebrated Gandhiji’s 100th birth anniversary many of us who had lived in Sewagram Ashram, Wardha, with Gandhiji were invited for a reunion.