Category Archives: mandela

Congratulations Mr. President

Posted on by
1

President Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and there are minds among us so twisted and or self-absorbed that they see this as a negative thing. Pardon me? The leader of your country is awarded the most prestigious peace prize in the world and this is a problem?

Some claim it may impede the country’s ability to reach its goals. Are you shitting me? If a Nobel Peace Prize makes things more difficult for my country, we are in worse shape than I thought. And God forbid anyone gives credence to Mikhail Gorbachev’s and Nelson Mandela’s praise of the Nobel Committee’s decision. Hell, what would those two know? (Answer? A lot more than most.)

That Obama, a president I genuinely love and the first president in my lifetime that I’d genuinely like to meet, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, makes perfect sense. Moreover, it is a stark and blisteringly accurate reminder of how much damage and destruction the Bush-Cheney Cowardice Cartel did to my country’s relationship to the world and its relationship to the very principles it was founded on.

Bush and Cheney were typical bullies. Both were cowards. Deferment Dick and Wimpy W did anything but step up to the plate when their country’s military needed them. Once in power they went around challenging everyone to a fight. You’re either for us or against us, you cretins! they bellowed, like the two spoiled brats they are, their fists clenched tight with a bravery that exists only when you know anyone but you has to do the fighting.

My country is arguably the most powerful country in the world. So just imagine what it was like for those in the world community when the leaders of the most powerful country in the world abandon their nation’s principles and swagger around like a drunk at a frat party looking for a fight. Imagine the relief in the world community and, by the way, in the large majority of the American Community, when an American leader emerges who is rich in strength, integrity, courage and, a trait that continues to baffle both sides of the aisle in Washington, honesty.

Congratulations, Mr. President. Your Nobel Peace Prize is richly deserved.

The Roads Less Travelled

Posted on by
1

John Steinbeck once wrote, “We are creatures of habit, a very senseless species.” He was right. We all get caught up in patterns and relationships in life that hold us back, that result in our taking part in life with one hand tied behind our back. We don’t do this consciously, so, when we notice these patterns, we are wise to treat ourselves (and each other) with kindness, not harsh judgment. After all, new beginnings, while often rewarding and wonderful, are inherently scary, at times terrifying.

Recently I got to contemplating a passage from the Robert Frost poem, “Road Less Travelled”, 

Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

and Henry David Thoreau’s words,

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.

Contemplating both passages brought me out of the darkness of indecision and led me into the sunshine of clarity. As a result, I have been able to make some changes that will free me to walk the roads less traveled. Both passages helped me to make these changes because when I read them, to myself or out loud, and then align them with those I admire most: Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Dr. King, Beethoven, Geronimo, Tolstoy, Teddy Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Steinbeck, Rosa Parks, Dickens, my father and more, it is strikingly clear that all of them lived the lives they imagined. All of them took the roads less travelled.

New beginnings often are the roads less travelled and they are often the roads best taken.

__________________________

Mandela

Posted on by
Reply

Many pretend greatness, few live it. Nelson Mandela lived it, and lives it. As a human rights advocate there are not many to look up to, to emulate, and for me, Mandela, or Madiba, as he is called by many in South Africa, Madiba being an honorary title adopted by elders of Mandela’s clan, is right their with Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a mere handful of others.

Mandela celebrated his 91st birthday today and seeing him brought tears to my eyes. The man right-sizes me on those days I am feeling wounded or walked on by those who wish I would cease my human rights activities. Who am I to complain? Who am I to moan when this man spent 27 years of his life in prison because he would not flinch in his fight for equal rights for all.

Lest any be foolish enough to believe Mandela is somehow a fearless being, let me enlighten you by giving you some of his words. On fear he said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

For those foolish enough to think the making of money is the true measure of success, he said, “Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” Now I know a couple of folks who read this blog who would nod their heads in agreement like this like bobble-head dolls and not a single word or tone of their phrasing would be remotely linked to honesty, much less integrity.

For those of you who read this blog who give your heart and soul to assuring that all people are given their equal rights in the world, let me give you the gift of Mandela’s words, “There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.”

For those of you are struggle for the rights of others, you are my brothers and sisters. For those of you who do not, who feed of others and use others for you material gain, guess what, you are my brothers and sisters too. May you get healthy and grow in that newfound healthiness for you are the ones who are truly enslaved.

For freedom brings with it some glorious realities, as Mandela said, “…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.”

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mandela. Thank you for keeping me and so many others right-sized, for reminding us that what feels impossible may not be impossible all.