Never before in history has the world paused in a moment packed with a flurry of a medley of emotions to focus all attention on the thresholds of a prison gate. Though many a young person may have scant memories of that time,as a little boy of 11 then, I have the relevance of the events of that momentous moment etched on my mind, just as surely and indelibly as they are on the pages of history. Coming from a continent where it wouldn't be so wrong to say it is largely ruled by a cabal of bandits who are driving the continent with an engine of greed to the edge of a fatally steep precipice; 11th February which every year commemorates XX years of Nelson Mandela's release from prison, manages to stir a healthy pride in me for our collective humanity through the African Statesman named Mandela. Mandela belongs to a crop and league of statesmen who only come to a generation every once in a while. He is among the few which Robert F Kennedy talked about when he said "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped."
As he walked through the doors of his cell, he brought away with him a freedom which to a large extent liberated both the oppressed and oppressor in the despicable apartheid South Africa. Madiba was a political genius, a charming negotiator, an enduring hard worker who despised and mocked the low road of unforgiveness and rose to the majestic heights of forgiving and finding partners in his jailers. Few who know or have heard of him can hold themselves back from having some admiration for the man... Even as I salute Mandela and all his compatriots in the struggle, dead and alive, I must confess that I have caught myself wrestling with some offhanded thoughts of him...Without being privy to the details of their marital squabbles, I cannot help but wonder how he could not leverage and bring to bear his charm, ability to forgive and genius in salving his ailing marriage to Winnie Mandela who in no small way stood by him and made significant contribution to the struggle... Could a marriage be more difficult to fix than an apartheid south africa? that is a question for another time and day. Before anybody crucifies me for having the temerity to even remotely make reference to something so personal of the giant, let me clarify that my probing mind was only wondering ... mostly in order to learn... I have the utmost respect and admiration for mighty Mandela but Nelson Mandela was a man, not God and his failings humanize him...everything that he is, is part of the history he wrote with his life... if we can learn from his strengths, we can learn from his weaknesses... As I salute the legacy of Mandela I think of lessons my generation and I can draw from his journey.
While Mandela made the down payment with probably the most precious 27 years of his life, there must have been some who shamelessly watched from the sidelines of passivity as the apartheid drama unfolded to the finale which saw the beginning of their emancipation, yet savored the prize for the price payed with precious lives... as many toiled for change at home, there must have also been some who gave the struggle an invaluably important voice from exile... So as young people whether at home or abroad I hear a call today for us to become a little more selfLESS and give a little of our brains and time by thinking constructive, bold, actionable ideas directed towards the self healing of Africa, a request I believe any and every young person can meet...
Mandela could well have easily traded his jail time for a life of ease abroad...Mandela had a plethora of choices. If you read South African History well you will also notice many many many blacks ran away from the country. In fact Mandela had more choices than we have today as a people of Africa yet he walked the hard road. "Although considering Mandela a dangerous "arch-Marxist",[172] in February 1985 Botha offered him a release from prison on condition that he '"unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon". Mandela spurned the offer, releasing a statement through his daughter Zindzi stating "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people [ANC] remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."[173]"- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela
It would of course be naively akin to wanting to live forever to expect to find a path which leads to the mountain top which was obstacle free. When a people are bent on developing, if they don't find the path they will make one, and both involve an indefatigable hard work... When Mandela dreamed many years ago it would have been easy to say he was living and dreaming in sky-scapers of a future which he could not afford... it was not a passive inactive dreaming even against the barrage of pessimism from within and without which probably came his way... it was an active waiting which never lost hope and which was never idle even from a jail cell. We will only become noble and develop by the things we do... one thing however which the way forward cannot tolerate is any excuse for not giving or for not participating... inaction is always the easier road and great men and women never walk that path...Many Africans have walked down that path long enough and we have the results to show - needless to name them here but we can begin to say, not any more... inactivity will always seek to stand in the way of action, we can not let it, not any more... As a bright future beckons our generation to put our act together and step up, steering away from the mistakes of our forbears, history is watching and will judge us... No action is small, none is dumb, all is important... we can belong together and whether we realize now or not, we can rise together... the ball is in our court, the choice is ours...
It cannot be easy... It takes time and I am painfully aware of our impatience as a young people. We cannot be in the process of building an airplane and flying it at the same time, so it will be important to go back to the drawing boards. We cannot expect results before the work is done... We cannot expect a harvest before the planting season has come... The failures of yesterday cannot stop us from succeeding today unless we choose to... If there is any hope for Africa, we must stubbornly press on and we must, together with like passion driven minds, from within or without Africa either find the path forward, create one or die trying, God being our helper... We will like to see results in our lifetime but lack of results in our lifetime and potential for change only in another must not stop us from acting today in anyway we can... I am convinced in the power of ideas, I have seen their magic, their charm enthralls and the right, bold, actionable, root cause removal oriented ideas to real problems will always attract their funding in the long run... I believe, I am a believer in the things unseen, that is where tomorrow's reality is... those who wait to have enough to give never really give... Today let us begin to drive the last nail on the coffin of selfishness and burn it so that like a phoenix selflessness might rise from the ashes in stead. This is for me and you and you and you, wherever you are, from there, we can begin to make a contribution to turn the tide of avoidable suffering which plagues our people and collective humanity. Each and every one of us needs to ask ourselves - what can I do? and do it knowing nothing is too small!
Brussels © November 2014 afesehngwaHilary
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