Another Action Hero

Gandhi turned our notion

of a tough guy topsy-turvy.  

He wasn’t the hunk

who pushed you around

or the guy with a gun

who didn’t mind plugging 

whoever he felt 

was his problem.

He became the anti-hunk,

a scrawny laughingstock

in sandals and loincloth,

experimenting with nearly-naked truth.

Valuing substance

over appearance,

small people

and small matters.

He saw their worth.

Who has more courage, he asks.

The man in uniform

who orders divisions;

the man behind the desk

who orders him;

the man swaddled in armor,

clanking down the street;

the man in a flight suit,

dropping a bomb

on people he never hears scream;

anyone in combat, willing to die 

with a knife or a gun

or a bloody club

in his hand?

Or the person

with an empty palm,

against the odds

loving you, singing,

unarmored by anything

but faith

that you can be better 

than you seem?

© Tony Russell, 2011

Gandhi; photo by Press Information Bureau