Gandhi wasn't simply reminding us to be kind to the vulnerable—he was proposing that compassion toward the powerless is actually the *truest measure* of a society's character, more revealing than its monuments, wealth, or military might. What makes this radical is the inversion: we typically judge nations by what their strongest members accomplish, but Gandhi argues that anyone can succeed when they have resources. When a country ensures that its poorest children receive adequate nutrition and schooling, or that its prisoners are treated with dignity, it reveals something unshakeable about that nation's values. Consider how the pandemic exposed this truth—wealthy nations that neglected their homeless populations or nursing home residents were exposed as lacking something essential, regardless of their GDP or technological prowess.