Notes of
Concern…
…Jackson Blair
MANDIBA
I am writing this column on Nelson Mandela’s birthday. He
has completed his 94th year.
In our country we talk of “change” in sound bites. We expect
change to come quickly. We are not very good at being patient or at delaying
gratification. In so many ways we are the “short view” proponents.
When I consider the life of Nelson Mandela, “Mandiba” to his
countrymen, I see an example of a man who took the “long view” and who saw the
glass as half full and who believed that all things would come in time. He saw
“change” as a long, slow process.
I don’t need to spend time writing about his
accomplishments. But I do want to remind my readers that he was first a “rebel”
in his country. There is a lot of “baggage” that comes with being a “rebel.” I feel certain the Mandela we know today was
very different as an angry young man, striking out against enemies, planning
disruptions and risking his life every day. It was what put him in prison.
But it was the Mandela that came out of that experience that
proved a blessing to the world.
It is not necessary to document his over twenty years of
imprisonment. I have seen the small cell on Robben Island where he spent his
days, the rock piles on which he left his sweat. That long period in the
company of beaten men, disillusioned prisoners, and mean-spirited guards would,
I believe, be sufficient to make an angry young man an even angrier old man.
However, that was not the lesson learned by Mandela on
Robben Island. In the midst of hate and deprivation and forced work he
discovered a better way.
It was a truly free man who walked out of Robben Island
after more than 20 years of imprisonment. Freed not just from his shackles but
also from his hate.
Again, the Mandela that emerged from that dark experience
became a blessing to the world.
As a free man with a calm and studied demeanor and a belief
that only reconciliation and forgiveness could unite his land, he went on to
become president. During his time in office he suggested that those who had
demeaned men and women of his race, maimed and killed many of his compatriots,
be forgiven their crimes if they made a public confession of them.
One by one the perpetrators of the apartheid period came
before the Truth & Reconciliation Commission and admitted their crimes.
And they were forgiven their sins.
We who are alive in this time have seen historic change
brought about in the Republic of South Africa by a common man.
More importantly, we have been privileged to witness once
again the immense power of forgiveness to move mountains, change people, and
provide hope.
Happy Birthday Mandiba.
You were given the blessing of years.
You have used them well.
