I’m sure if you are like me, the constant stream of Nelson Mandela posthumous media attention has begun to run together and become white noise — no pun intended.
However, I find it extremely interesting to see how time has changed the view of this man — how at one point in one’s life, he can viewed as a terrorist and at another point be viewed as quite possibly the world’s best diplomat.
Let me say this about Mandela: The idea that he came out of prison — a hard-labor prison — after 27 years and was not only able to forgive his oppressors, but heal an entire nation. To me, this is the ultimate journey of a man. To come full circle and put to use your entire life’s knowledge and experience and genuinely do your country a service is the stuff of, well, legend.
To say that the Mandela, who entered Robben Island in 1964, would have been able to accomplish the integration of apartheid South Africa is probably a stretch. By no way am I saying he would not have accomplished greatness without going to prison, but his intellectual and spiritual growth during those years are what made Mandela the man for the enormous job he inherited in his homeland.
“Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.”
Mandela, who at a younger age turned to violence to fight the violence heaped upon his people, left jail, became immensely popular and won, in a landslide, South Africa’s first democratic election. If Mandela had been a lesser man, he could have, at any point, turned his power and popularity against the 4 million white people who oppressed, beat, imprisoned and killed his 41 million African brothers.
Nearly every white in South Africa believed that was what was going to happen once Mandela took power. They believed he and his government would be as petty, corrupt and oppressive as they had been towards him. They believed he would seek retribution for the unjustified, inhumane actions that they had delivered, but that is not what happened.
Mandela embraced his oppressors, often causing serious cracks within his own power base. Madiba, as his people called him from his tribal name, realized he needed to set an example for future generations and break the cycle of retaliatory, revenge-laced violence and embrace his enemies.
“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
History is often glossed over and sometimes just flat changed. Those in power write the history. Had Mandela died in the 70s, what would his legacy have been at that point? He was viewed not only as a terrorist by his government, but in many, many parts of the world, including this country.
Our news coverage at the time used phrases like “held back the natives” or “detained during an uprising” to describe the fight against South Africa’s racist power. The point is words like terrorist, revolutionary, liberator, rebel and insurgent are often intertwined. They often change depending on who we are describing and how we feel about said person.
Would you describe Paul Revere as a terrorist?
Would you describe Robert E. Lee as a rebel or an insurgent?
What about Malcolm X? Napoleon? Micheal Collins?
It seems definitions of these people often depended as much as who was writing about them as the time in history.
“I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists.”
Mandela’s fight to not only gain freedom and fairness for his people was only surpassed by his desire to unite an entire nation. We should all be so lucky to see a leader during our life time that had such vision.
We view many of Mandela’s actions through our eyes. Eyes that have neither seen the humiliation of oppression nor viewed the rise of people wanting real freedom. We see the fight for freedom around the world and pigeonhole it into the simple terms of “with us” or “against us.” Freedom can never be defined by anyone on the outside. Freedom can never be given as if it’s a favor. Freedom can only be taken and offered.
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
I look around the world today, and sadly, I don’t see many great leaders. I don’t see the kind of leadership that we will require in the near future. I see posturing, hear sound bites and watch negative attacks.
In a time, we seem to be separating and splitting. When we seem to be finding less and less in common with one another, we should take a page from Madiba’s book and sit down. Listen to one another and put in the necessary work to come back together. Because together we can achieve greatness, but separate we can only achieve destruction.
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
Richard Clark is the desk chief of Halifax ENC. You can reach him at 910-219-8452 or Richard.Clark@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @kpaws22.