flash of light

The stature of a man is in the eye of the beholder. Harassed, unhappy, thwarted by those who adored him, Gandhi could not have seen what heights he attained in the last months of his life. In that period he did something of endless value to any society: he gave India a concrete, living demonstration of a different and better life. He showed that men could live as brothers and that brute man with blood on his hands can respond, however briefly, to the touch of the spirit. Without such moments humanity would lose faith in itself. For ever after, the community must compare that flash of light with the darkness of normal existance.

Louis Fischer - The Life of Mahatma Gandhi