[Buddha-l] Silence of the List

[Stephen Hodge]

Joy Vriens wrote:

>> Gandhi: only the strong have a right to call themselves true pacificists; 
>> the weak are pacificists only out of necessity.
>
> The strong have any right they want. They decide on who has what rights. 
> But every child knows that. Is that what Gandhi wanted to point out?

First, note that I was paraphrasing from memory.  Perhaps I should have said 
that "it is only appropriate for the strong ... " or something like that. 
What I thnk Gandhi was saying is that a conscious and deliberate choice to 
adopt pacificism is more laudable in the case of the strong because they 
have other options, whereas the weak (unless they are stupid) do not have 
the luxury of making such choices -- they are generally pacificists out of 
necessity.   Does that make things clearer for you ?

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge