Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sunday Reflection: Nelson Mandela, Free
Last week, in the comments section, my old friend Sleepy Walleye posted this:
No mention of Nelson Mandela on the Razor yet. I'll take the liberty.
One summer in the mid 1980s, I was traveling across the choppy waters of Lake Saganaga, much closer to the Arctic Circle than to South Africa. Along with me were a few other white teenage suburbanites. To the background hum of the Evinrude 18hp outboard engine, we pounded out a steady thumping funky beat and chanted a sing-song "Free Nelson Mandela!!" over and over. Even at that time, before the eventual achievements, the man's story was incredibly compelling. A true hero of humanity.
Mandela is dead
Long live Nelson Mandela
One summer in the mid 1980s, I was traveling across the choppy waters of Lake Saganaga, much closer to the Arctic Circle than to South Africa. Along with me were a few other white teenage suburbanites. To the background hum of the Evinrude 18hp outboard engine, we pounded out a steady thumping funky beat and chanted a sing-song "Free Nelson Mandela!!" over and over. Even at that time, before the eventual achievements, the man's story was incredibly compelling. A true hero of humanity.
Mandela is dead
Long live Nelson Mandela
As you might have guessed, I was one of the other people in that little boat, and we were singing the Specials song featured in the video above.
Nelson Mandela was a remarkable man. Great speeches have been made already, by better orators than me. However, there are two characteristics about Mandela that will remain remarkable in a way that transcends his life.
The first is perseverance. Mandela was imprisoned for a longer period than some of my readers have been alive. During that time, he remained strong and committed to telling the truth about the reality of his country. During that period, I went to South Africa (traveling overland through it to get to Botswana), and I saw those truths. It was the strangest, and most malignant, place I have been.
The second trait was his remarkable sense of the value of reconciliation. Despite all he endured, he rebuilt his country without retribution toward his oppressors. That is a transgressive idea in our culture-- yet he showed its power.
The deep well of love for the man we have seen expressed has been deserved; he is one of those people who will enter history for the best of reasons.
