WE REMEMBER NELSON MANDELA - JULY 18, 2022
“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living”.
(Words of Nelson Mandela during the days apartheid)
The United Nations declared July 18th (the birth date) as Nelson Mandela Day and encouraged people engaged in the struggle for justice to celebrate this day in honor of “Madiba.” The initial celebration, held on July 18, 2009, was a gathering of peoples across South Africa and around our world to recall how one person made a difference for both black and white communities in South Africa. Today, in 2022, voices continue to be raised around our fragile world as the struggle for equality for all peoples is indeed not yet equally shared as we watch the evening news.
I personally have admired Nelson Mandela for years in his passion and commitment to help bring about a just solution to the racial discrimination that he and many others lived through in his beloved country. Madiba’s long struggle for right relationship and for a just South Africa FOR ALL- came at great cost to him and his family. I suspect that the journey to freedom was not an easy one for him. Nelson Mandela lived among the daily injustices he saw around him and oftentimes caused a negative response to the situation.
“When a man/woman is denied the right to live the life (s)he believes in, (s)he has no choice but to become an outlaw”. (Words from Mandela as he faced a long jail term for his actions)
Madiba was arrested in 1963 and found guilty of conspiracy and sabotage to overthrow the government of South Africa which meant he would be facing an extensive jail term which was a way the government used to silence him and the movement that was coming into its own! After 27 years of incarceration, with many of those years in solitary confinement, Nelson Mandela did not show hostility or anger toward his oppressors and in the upcoming election was selected as the first black leader of the Rainbow nation.
In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, we are able to see some of the attitudes Nelson chose to live by to survive this difficult time in his life…his transformation time…his time to live in a liminal space. Perhaps each of us will take courage as our own personal journey of transformation continues to unfold from his insights:
Believing that things would get better – 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.
Oppression was character building – The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in my country and my people.
Focusing his hatred on the system not the PEOPLE running the system – In prison, my anger toward whites decreased, but my hatred for the system grew. I loved even my enemies.
Finding beauty in unexpected places fueling hope – Some mornings I was in the courtyard and every living thing there, seemed to smile and shine in the sun. I knew that someday my people and I would be free.
Tending a garden became a metaphor for Life and Leadership – I saw the garden as a metaphor for certain aspects of my life. A leader tends his garden; plants seeds, and then watches, cultivates and harvests the result. A leader, like a gardener, must take responsibility for what is cultivated – mind his work, repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved and eliminate what cannot succeed.
Reading survival stories of others – In reading classic Greek plays, I learned that character was measured by facing up to difficult situations and a hero would not break under the most trying of circumstances.
Leaning on the camaraderie of others – Prison is designed to break one’s spirit and destroy one’s resolve, by stamping out that spark that makes each one of us a unique human being. We supported each other and gained strength from each other.
The home of Nelson Mandela, Soweto, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 to 1962.
While working with Scarboro Missions in Malawi, our return flight was diverted to Cape Town, South Africa and there was not a connecting flight to Malawi for two days. Being in Cape Town meant that there might be a possibility of visiting Nelson Mandela’s home located in the heart of the city - and right down the street from the residence of Desmond Tutu! My travelling companion, Brian Swords, a member of the Scarboro Leadership Team, was coming for a visit to our Mission in Malawi. He was open to venturing out and finding the neighborhood where Nelson Mandela lived, and healed, after his years in confinement. Upon crossing the threshold I noticed that his home was a small, humble dwelling – yet these were the words that came to mind as we stood on holy ground that day.
All are welcome in this home where a new reality for the people of South Africa was born and continues to be lived out even to this day.
-Sister Ann MacDonald, csj