Years ago when I read Cry, My Beloved Country, by South African writer, Alan Paton, I cried.
Later, when I read Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, I wiped away my tears.
These two books together tell the story of South Africa’s struggle to embody dignity and freedom for all its citizens as nothing else can. They also tell us why Alan Paton is considered one of the great writers of his generation and why Nelson Mandela is seen by many as the world’s greatest political leader of the 20th century.
Apartheid was one of the worst social systems ever developed by a nation.
P. W. Botha, South Africa’s racist Prime Minister & President who as a legislator helped to establish apartheid in 1948, euphemistically called it a policy of “good neighborliness.”
How sick was that?
No sicker, I suppose, than Jim Crow laws in this country that claimed to create a society that was “separate, but equal” across the south in the 1950’s.
It seems evil is often called by a different name.
As I think of Nelson Mandela I have to confess that he was a better man than I am. I do not yet have the will he had to forgive people who will stop at nothing to preserve their privilege or perpetuate unjust policies and laws.
But I am not alone. Most of us do not have the quality of character Nelson Mandela had, which more than anything else is what set him apart from the rest of us. It’s why he inspired us.
I believe once in a while God raises up a person like Nelson Mandela to show the world what great good human beings are capable of when we put our minds and hearts to the service of others.
I cannot think of a time in US history when the need for people striving for that great good is more needed.
Actually, it may not be as difficult as it appears.
One simple step in this direction is to give up the political talking heads that stir us up, whether on the right or left. If you want to make the effort, say goodbye to Rush Limbaugh and most of what is on Fox News and MSNBC.
Talking heads do little more than stir the cauldron of unrest, misinformation, bitterness, deception, misperception, and mean spirited politics. They poison the air. Stop breathing it and you will be healthier for it.
Another step is to accept the truth about ourselves: We don’t know the truth.
We know some of it, portions of it, bits of it, but never all of it. We don’t know the truth, the whole truth, so we are not God. That ought to be at least a little humbling.
Humble people make the world better. Nelson Mandela did. Alan Paton did. The rest of us can.
It comes down to a choice. Follow their example or keep listening to the voices that infect us instead of inspiring us.
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I can hear your voice as i read your words, and am grateful. Please keep telling it like it is!
Nelson Mandela, as I see it, was one of a unique breed of statesman, whom I shall call the Nation Builders. Including him, there have only been five in the course of the 20th Century. These were: Kemal Ataturk, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle…and Nelson Mandela.
In my country, we nearly had a Nation Builder in John Hampden. He was a casualty of the English Civil War, being killed at Chalgrove Field, near Oxford, in 1643. Hampden was the one person with vision and imagination, who could have made our brief experiment with Republicanism work. Instead, we got Oliver Cromwell…
I think that God better hurry up and send that kind of person to America. I think we are in dire need.
We truly need new voices of peace, justice, and equality in the USA.
Yes, rising above the banter is a personal responsibility we all must work diligently at. I too find it difficult at times, fighting back the urge to respond to each outlandish piece of propaganda, lie, half-truth etc.
I think there are many voices of the nature desired, though few might possess statesman capabilities. When the conditions are right, when a majority “sees the light”, the “forest for the trees”, then the voice(s) of that light will have the support to focus the dialog and combat the dominant minority (who constantly endeavor to divide) through the energy of a “movement”. Ordinary people possess the power for change, when they are ready to exercise it. God speed to our awakening!
Truth is, we don’t know the Truth. Love it!
That humility can lead to great things and wonderful changes. The moment we think we know, and get all puffed up and start drawing lines in the sand… well… That’s an extremely hard thing not to do. Reminds me of another of your posts from the summer. I have that one printed out and by my desk for quick reference when I feel my temperature go up. Often helps me respond more in grace. Often… not always.