Brenda Stoltz
My trip to India on a Fulbright Group Project Abroad (GPA) was a journey for me that continues to tug at my heartstrings. The colors, smells, and sounds heightened all my senses like no other place I’ve ever been. People with the purity of spirit opened my heart, and I felt their joy as well as their pain. There was desperation in the poverty that one can only imagine. Trying to make sense of it all only hinders what you think life should be.
The days at the Gandhi Museum were especially moving for me. Being there felt holy and reverent in some very odd way. I stood in awe before a case that held a piece of Gandhi’s clothing. I stared at a pair of his wire-rimmed glasses, hoping to get a glimpse of the life he lived. It is said that Gandhi knew he was a Mahatma, and he rose to the challenge to change a nation without using violence. I can only imagine what a challenge that was in a country that is as diverse as India.
In Gandhian philosophy, knowledge without character is nothing. In the states, we are always asking, should we be teaching morals and values in school? In Gandhian philosophy, we must. It is our civic duty to help build character. As teacher, I am overwhelmed with the task ahead, yet I realize that children need to find truth and acceptance. They need tools to help solve conflicts nonviolently. They need to be exposed to leaders and people around the world who have a vision for what a nonviolent world could be. Our existence depends on it.
For me, my trip to India made my job as a teacher so much more urgent and important. Being inspired by Gandhi instilled in me the power that change with vision can lead to better times. In India, it comes slowly with such great diversity and complexity of problems. We must believe in the power of hope and the desire for change in a more peaceful world for our children.
Brenda Betz-Stoltz
Brenda teaches 5th grade in Menomonie, WI
Go to Brenda’s lesson plans (Middle level):
Go to Brenda’s lesson plans (Middle level):