Mahatma Gandhi mentions in his autobiography that the middle class in India has the power to change the tides. He was saying this in reference to the dietary suggestions in the book and the middle class can easily follow these dietary suggestions. He says that the rich are too indulged in their senses and hence they cannot follow the lifestyle suggested by him. And the poor live hand to mouth and always worry if they can live and get by another day. So even poor cannot be expected to follow his advise. But middle class has decent means and they can be persuaded to live a healthy and spiritual life. These and other suggestions to live a healthy and devotional life could look stringent to many but can be easily followed especially the middle class, as he opined.

But I see this in other areas of life too. The gap between the rich and poor is increasing daily. The rich class today is quite oblivious to the plight of the poor and don’t know what worries the poor, what troubles their mind, what problems they want to see solved.

The poor has no idea what goes in within the castles of the rich.

But it is only the middle class who can have a fair idea of what the poor class goes through daily and they also know the lifestyle of the rich and famous as they aspire to be like them someday.

But it is this power of middle class to be the in-between that can be an advantage to them. How?

1. They could try to live a more healthier and spiritual life than trying to advance materially whole year. They are already devotional and can additionally try to  control their senses and observe fast once a week or twice a month.
2. They can teach their children what is more important in life, and not to forget their duty to society at large if they ever become rich. Good habits formed while living in the middle class phase of your life, can be followed through when they become rich.
3. And compared to the poor, the middle class are at a better position to use their intellectual faculty for the benefit of their neighbors and society. Most of them are educated, unlike the poor, and can be more alert to the workings of the government, and can raise important civic issues to them.

But all these expectations from the middle class go unfulfilled because, today, they are in a continuous rat race trying to outdo one another to reach the top. They dislike their middle class position and want to quickly exit this stage to reach the higher class. 

If the middle class realizes that they could work together as a whole, and use it collectively, they can bring important changes in the society.