By Adam Stone
(For Peace, For Compassion, For Love, For Forgiveness and For the Reconciliation of Men)
This has been an historic month. The United States Supreme Court ruled on keys provisions of the Voting Rights of 1964 and, on the last day of its term, it ruled on marriage equality. The heated trial of George Zimmerman – on trial for the tragic death of young Trayvon Martin in Florida last year – has come to a close and the historic Boston mob boss, Whitey Bulger has been called before a jury in a Massachusetts federal court to atone for his transgressions. A professional football player was charged with murder. A television chef put her foot in her mouth. And a female senatorial powerhouse from Texas literally stood as a one woman filibuster on the floor of the statehouse, reminding us of a certain classic Jimmy Stewart film.
Scandal, politics, religious fervor: these are all the makings of an extraordinary time in our history regardless of where one may stand on any one of these issues, individuals, trials or debates. However, in the midst, I read less and less about the declining health and imminent passing of a 94, now 95-year-old prisoner turned president from South Africa.
Nelson Mandela, or Madiba as he is known in his tribe, lays in critical condition in a hospital in Pretoria, allegedly on life support – some days at his final breath, other days doing better. Despite spending his early career as a lawyer fighting apartheid, and consequently, spending 27 years of his life in a political prison on an island secluded from his native land and family; despite having the courage upon his release from bondage to run for and become the first black president of a truly democratic South Africa; and despite his refusal to exert one ounce of revenge upon his lighter skinned oppressors for himself or for the countless other victims of apartheid, I see little coverage of his final hours with us on this Earth in comparison to the foregoing latest, breaking news.
His passing will, ultimately, come and go like that of every other great leader in history. We will look back on his life with rose-colored glasses until he becomes an unattainable spirit, a revolutionary whose memory will become so precious that to see him as human will be considered an insult – such as we have done to Mohandes Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
But, like those two, what makes Mandela extraordinary is that in times of great trial and tribulation, where others simply gave in and refused to hold out for hope, he believed in something bigger than himself. I believe what makes him heroic is that – when he stood face-to-face with those who had beaten him, imprisoned him, exiled him and spent decades degrading, murdering and raping his people – he was strong enough to extend his hands in love, forgiveness, peace and understanding.
And while his times were extraordinary and trying, the characteristics he stood nearest are all too innately human. We are born full of love, peace, tolerance and a willingness to forgive. All prejudice, bias, fear, bigotry and ignorance are learned – passed down or shrouded in flags or books. Essentially, both in his darkest hour and moment of greatest triumph, Mandela lived and still lives with grace.
Today is his 95th birthday, and I hope that you will celebrate with me. I am not asking you to throw parties. I am not asking for fireworks, cakes, gifts or other favors; but tell your friends, children, grandchildren and all those that will listen of the power of redemptive forgiveness. Teach them to “hate the sin, but love the sinner” and that no conflict will ever truly be resolved until all of us have reconciled our differences and come to see one another as God’s children and members of the same community.
In the end for Mandela – as it will be for all of us someday – it is as Tennyson wrote:
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven;that which we are, we are
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield
In other words, we may never be who we once were, even more frightening we must recognize that we may fail in our greater endeavors as men. But the outcome is not for us to know. On a small scale, Mandela’s struggle is our own – right here in our little county situated in the middle of Ohio – we seek tolerance, compassion, forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation all the same. We need only see our lives through such a lens and live accordingly.
Now, we engage in the struggle for tolerance in our homes, our families and community only waged without violence as – Mandela struggled. Let us live up to the principles that we proudly espouse every Sunday from the multitude of churches in this community: compassion, empathy, tolerance and forgiveness (those words which echo through oceans of time – “so as you do unto the least of Mine, so you also do unto Me.”). And we, here in this place, come together as Tennyson’s “equal temper of heroic hearts,” young and old, and pronounce as King Henry V did in Shakespeare’s epic play, “[o]nce more unto the breach, dear friends, once more . . .”
In the last analysis, it may all have been in vain. But if we do not stand up and face these challenges together, head on, then someday as we lay patiently for our last breath in the winter of our lives, our child or grandchild or great-grandchild will come to us and ask, “[w]here were you during these difficult times? What did you do to bring peace and tolerance to your home and your family and your community?” God forbid that we are forced to look that child in the eyes and utter those three (3) words that will be etched upon his or her mind forever: “I did nothing.”
To our friend and our hero: Happy 95th Birthday, Madiba It is my hope that mankind will do you proud.