However, the world would be a better place if these attacks did not happen in the first place. In the Christian Bible, it says An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but Buddha disagrees with that and stated An eye for an eye just makes the whole world blind I might be Roman Catholic, but I strongly agree with the words of Buddha. Women like Bahrami, who have the courage and spirt to fight injustice, will make the world a better place. is a Christian nation, and Japan practices Buddhism. The Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence states that the Gandhi family believes it is an authentic Gandhi quotation, but no example of its use by the Indian leader has ever been discovered. Women throughout world face acid attacks because they are born female and want to have more autonomy in their lives. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind is frequently attributed to M. Essentially, her story teaches us that silence is not the way to battle acid attacks that are intended to victimize and control women. After all, acid attacks against women in Iran have not ended, and the people have protested on the streets to call the attention of the authorities.īahrami’s story opens so many debates about the way we should respond to these heinous attacks. These consequences have made Bahrami wonder whether she made the correct decision, pardoning her attacker. However, she has not been paid her compensations and the man who attacked her has been released from the jail. We need to have the courage to stop the cycle of violence and use the methodology of creative nonviolence to end this madness and pursue a more nonviolent world. That sad truth is being played out every day now.
Instead of retribution, Bahrami requested financial compensations from her attacker that she needed for her treatments and surgeries. An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind, Gandhi said famously. After years of hard work, she obtained the permission from the courts to blind her attacker with acid, but things did not happen how she intended.Īt the last moment, just before blinding the attacker, she pardoned him.
In other words, Bahrami wanted to punish the attacker with an “eye for an eye” type of justice. In retaliation Bahrami sought a unique form of justice from the Iranian courts under the Sharia Law that allowed her to blind the attacker with acid. The acid attack blinded and disfigured Bahrami, changing her life forever. In 2004 a man threw acid on Ameneh Bahrami, a young woman lived in Teheran, Iran because she had refused to marry him. Imagine how you would feel if someone threw acid in your face because you wanted autonomy and your choices to be respected. Imagine how you would feel if someone threw acid on your face because you did not want to marry that person. This system does not “make the whole world go blind,” assuming all humans are innocent and the fact of the possibility of all humans becoming criminals and murderers is slim.The struggle of a woman who sought retribution after a man blinded her with acid.īy Samantha Wickramasinghe, CCASA Blogger Therefore, “an eye for an eye” means proportionate justice. Do you think the meaning and message of this famous quote by Gandhiji is relevant today Comment. 9) An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind Mahatma Gandhiji. On a smaller scale, a robber would get fined or a year in prison to compensate for the violation against the person robbed. Topic: Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world. The criminal has lost the maximum amount of rights as possible, just like the victim. ) “An eye for an eye” or the “tit-for-tat” system is necessary in a just and equal society.įor example, a criminal who kills could either get the death penalty or life in jail without parole. “Whoever strikes a man a mortal blow must be put to death. Justice means to treat people how they deserve, in as much as the people have the authority to do so.
This saying assumes all humans are guilty and justice is harmful. Gandhi’s essence of his argument is morally correct however, this expression questions the ability for a person to obtain justice. , another successful rights activist that permanently changed the way the world viewed segregation, who stated, “Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time. Although Gandhi may not have influenced everyone, he did accomplish spreading his theory of nonviolence to Martin Luther King, Jr. The terrorists who followed Bin Laden, blinded by hatred and misleading beliefs from Bin Laden, went as far as self-sacrifice as an attempt to make change instead of trying to reason with words and nonviolent actions something Gandhi wanted to accomplish. S foreign policy which concluded in thousands of deaths in the 9-11 attacks which included his own followers and his death in 2011. For instance, Osama Bin Laden and his followers, known as terrorists, have used violence to solve his belief of oppression on Muslims by the U. ” (Luke 6:36-38) Using punishment as a way of dealing with things is seen as the opposite of the solution.