Non-Violence

Who better to hear from on non-violence than Gandhi himself?

"Non-violence is goodwill towards all life. It is pure love."

This sounds familiar because Dr. King adopted this view of Gandhi's and Dr. King lived this principle. Gandhi says, "Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory." Gandhi lived his principles as well. He spent over six years of his life in prison and devoted himself to non-violence as a means to achieve the freedom of India.

"The greater the progress , the greater the recognition of our unworthiness." Gandhi was humble about any progress that was made through his leadership and that is what probably made him such an attractive leader. Non-violence was the cornerstone to the foundation of his leadership and it proved to be successful.

Financial Aid

Daniel Headlee

Dr. LaLonde

November 12, 2009

My question for Ms. Gill is, “Is there more full athletic scholarships given out than full academic scholarships?” And, “What qualities are most attractive when considering what person gets a certain amount of financial aid?”

After being at Belmont for a year and almost a semester I’ve experience a broad array of fellow students. A lot of the students who come to Belmont come because they want to get a job in the music industry in some way and most of them bust their butt to get here. I understand that it doesn’t make sense for the university pay for students to come here if the student is willing to take on the financial burden himself or herself but Belmont advertises itself as a Christian affiliated school that cares about the individual. If that is what matters to Belmont then I would disagree with an athletic scholarship being given out more often than an academic. On average the students who receive an academic scholarships are going to be students who excelled in high school and want to come to college to develop skills that help them down the road.

In the Belmont mission statement it says, “Belmont University empowers men and women to engage and transform the world. The university prepares students to use their intellectual skills, creativity, and faith to meet the challenges and opportunities that face the human community.” I believe our school does this but I think Belmont is diverging from this mission when they invest high dollars in things such as athletics before things such as speech and debate students (I.E. “students with intellectual skills and creativity”). I’m not saying that the athletes don’t have these skills it’s just that in their sport theses skills aren’t being developed as efficiently as they could be if they were in speech and debate or SIFE.

Gandhi

I have a better understanding of Gandhi after completing this short biography of him and watching the movie but my new understanding of him has generated other questions.

Who did Gandhi pray to? He considered himself a Hindu, Muslim, and Christian all of which have different gods. My guess would be that he prayed to whom I consider the one true God, that Christians pray to, but I don't have any facts to back that up.

Gandhi was a wise man who used his power to cause change for the Indian race. As a great leader himself, who did he follow? From my knowledge it would appear that he didn't follow a deity but values and principles. "Gandhi pondered the principles guiding his life-truth, non-violence, self-realization, and community service." Gandhi's influence didn't cease when he died. His influence continued on to conquer the civil rights struggle in the United States through Dr. King. Gandhi is an irreplaceable figure of our past and our world would be different today if it weren't for him.