Dear Dad,
You were a realist and accepted reality, faced it head on, shouldering your responsibilities firmly on your shoulders.
You never hid behind lies or the vulnerable and weak. You believed in justice, not vengeance. When things were difficult you dealt with them forthrightly, honestly and courageously.
In your youth you were one of the many Freedom Fighters that returned to India to fight for her independence from the British, as did Ghandi and many others.
Paul found a document in the India Office in London which refers to you and your arrest at this time. The report states that you were protective of your Assistant and insisted that he was just your servant, knew nothing, and should be released. You shouldered the full responsibility of any activities in the office, a newspaper office which published the views of the Freedom Fighters of the day. A coward would have hidden behind his assistant and justified it by saying that the assistant was expendable and they were not. A coward would have been bloated by his own arrogance and self-importance. Not you. Because of your actions and statements, he was free to return home to his family, and you faced head on, with courage and humility, the consequences of your actions, publicizing the Freedom Fighter cause. You managed to continue publishing from jail by convincing the Warden that homing pigeons were a hobby of yours.
Paul was surprised by this ... I don't know why. I knew your heart and this didn't surprise me at all. Any other response would have surprised me.
I've kept all of the stories you told me, about that time, close to my heart, and one day I'll write a book about you, and share those stories with the world.
My values and principles, Dad, are your values and principles. Not because you forced your views on me, and demanded that I agree with you. You didn't do that. We talked, you told me stories, you listened to my opinions, and you gave me the freedom to choose. The act of a true Democrat.
There are those who say that one countries Freedom Fighter is another countries Terrorist. I don't agree with that statement.
A Terrorist is someone whose cause is not democratic, not in benefit of the majority of peoples, and not for freedom.
Islamic terrorists want Jihad and to impose their way of life on others. They engage in violence and extremism to promote this agenda.
Kahane Chai (Kach) wants Israel for Jews only and they want to force everyone else including all other Semitic peoples to leave Israel. They also engage in violence and extremism to promote their agenda.
India's freedom fighters wanted Independence from control of a foreign power. There's a huge difference between the Freedom Fighters of the past and the Terrorists of today. America fought for it's Independence from the British too.
Why should Afghani's be forced to live under Islamic rule of one type of Islam, the Taliban, when there are many types of Islam and not all Afghanis are Islamic? The fight in Afghanistan is to provide a democratic government and structure so that all interests and people are represented by that government.
If Israel is indeed a democracy, then why should it only exist for the Jews and not be inclusive of other peoples who have lived in this region for thousands of years?
In fact, Israel (Canada, the US and the European Union have now followed suit) has declared Kahane Chai (Kach) a terrorist organization because they engage in violence and extremism to force their agenda. So Israel has taken a strong stand for democracy.
India, on the other hand, simply wanted to have democratic elections where they could elect their own to run their own country like the US succeeded in doing with their American Revolution.
Dad, this is the type of discussion and analysis you and I would have engaged in with passion. Where would you stand today? I'm pretty certain that you would have objected to the Terrorism of today, condemned it as I do, and stood as you always did, on the side of democracy.
You always gave me the freedom to choose while maintaining your right to influence and convince.
Thank you, Dad,
Your loving daughter, Kitty
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