Mandela
In his autobiography, Nelson Mandela wrote, “I am fundamentally an
optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of
being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet
moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was
sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That
way lays defeat and death.” I would imagine that some of the "dark moments" for Mandela came during his twenty seven years as a political prisoner during the dark years of apartheid in South Africa.
I had the privilege to spend a little over a month in South Africa during my seminary years; most of my time there I lived at a seminary in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Before I headed there, I got to spend a short time in Cape Town, and took a tour of the prison on Robben Island. There many political prisoners were held in the apartheid years, including Nelson Mandela. It was a profoundly moving experience to tour the prison, and to learn about the systems of racial classification that took place that dictated every aspect of prison life, including what was considered by the authorities as "proper diet" for different people, according to skin color. It was truly horrifying to learn more about those grim years of South Africa's history. Our tour guide had been a prisoner himself, and my visit was only about nine years after the fall of apartheid.
The most surprising thing about the tour was seeing the cell where Nelson Mandela lived for twenty seven years. It was completely underwhelming and deeply disappointing. It was a tiny, dull ordinary prison cell like all the others. There were no vigil candles, there was no shrine, it was just an empty cell. There he spent all those years, and miraculously was still able to emerge to be the amazing world leader we have come to know and who we now mourn.
I never met Nelson Mandela, but I was able to meet Bishop Desmond Tutu, and I have had the privileged to hear him speak on several occasions. One of the things I have learned and that I continue to learn from Tutu's and Mandela's example is the importance of leaving resentment and the desire for revenge behind, as Mandela left his resentment behind when he left Robben Island. Forgiveness and reconciliation, more than anything else is the living testimony of the leaders of South Africa after the fall of the apartheid government. Bishop Tutu himself led the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" that presided over the confessions and forgiveness of the former apartheid enforcers. It was essential to the future of South Africa, and the healing of that nation, that the new government not reverse the attitude of apartheid against another racial group, but that people of any racial classification be held in respect, and treated with human dignity.
It is truly an amazing thing to have witnessed that process (if from afar) in our lifetime. To me, Mandela and Tutu are saints of our generation. And examples that we might strive to emulate. South Africa is certainly not without its ongoing struggles, but those gentlemen saw a higher vision of humanity that points toward the prophet Isaiah's ancient vision: when God's righteousness will reign and we live in the Kingdom of God.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation are the signs of the presence of the Kingdom of God. To live there requires transformation of our minds and our hearts; the challenge is that we think we don't like change, so we resist such transformation. Fortunately, God didn't wait around, but saw fit to put on flesh in Jesus Christ and come and dwell among us. He is the righteous one who we depend on, and he is the one who forgives us all and reconciles us with God. All that we do in our lives is, then, a response to having been forgiven and reconciled with God. Thanks be to God for modern examples like Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu who have shown us with their lives that it is possible to keep our heads "pointed toward the sun...and not give [ourselves] up to despair."
I had the privilege to spend a little over a month in South Africa during my seminary years; most of my time there I lived at a seminary in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Before I headed there, I got to spend a short time in Cape Town, and took a tour of the prison on Robben Island. There many political prisoners were held in the apartheid years, including Nelson Mandela. It was a profoundly moving experience to tour the prison, and to learn about the systems of racial classification that took place that dictated every aspect of prison life, including what was considered by the authorities as "proper diet" for different people, according to skin color. It was truly horrifying to learn more about those grim years of South Africa's history. Our tour guide had been a prisoner himself, and my visit was only about nine years after the fall of apartheid.
The most surprising thing about the tour was seeing the cell where Nelson Mandela lived for twenty seven years. It was completely underwhelming and deeply disappointing. It was a tiny, dull ordinary prison cell like all the others. There were no vigil candles, there was no shrine, it was just an empty cell. There he spent all those years, and miraculously was still able to emerge to be the amazing world leader we have come to know and who we now mourn.
I never met Nelson Mandela, but I was able to meet Bishop Desmond Tutu, and I have had the privileged to hear him speak on several occasions. One of the things I have learned and that I continue to learn from Tutu's and Mandela's example is the importance of leaving resentment and the desire for revenge behind, as Mandela left his resentment behind when he left Robben Island. Forgiveness and reconciliation, more than anything else is the living testimony of the leaders of South Africa after the fall of the apartheid government. Bishop Tutu himself led the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" that presided over the confessions and forgiveness of the former apartheid enforcers. It was essential to the future of South Africa, and the healing of that nation, that the new government not reverse the attitude of apartheid against another racial group, but that people of any racial classification be held in respect, and treated with human dignity.
It is truly an amazing thing to have witnessed that process (if from afar) in our lifetime. To me, Mandela and Tutu are saints of our generation. And examples that we might strive to emulate. South Africa is certainly not without its ongoing struggles, but those gentlemen saw a higher vision of humanity that points toward the prophet Isaiah's ancient vision: when God's righteousness will reign and we live in the Kingdom of God.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation are the signs of the presence of the Kingdom of God. To live there requires transformation of our minds and our hearts; the challenge is that we think we don't like change, so we resist such transformation. Fortunately, God didn't wait around, but saw fit to put on flesh in Jesus Christ and come and dwell among us. He is the righteous one who we depend on, and he is the one who forgives us all and reconciles us with God. All that we do in our lives is, then, a response to having been forgiven and reconciled with God. Thanks be to God for modern examples like Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu who have shown us with their lives that it is possible to keep our heads "pointed toward the sun...and not give [ourselves] up to despair."
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