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Few of us will ever face the inhumanity that was inflicted on the political prisoners of Robben Island. But all of us face struggle and adversity in our lives. That's why the lessons of this history are so important. Like few other people, Nelson Mandela shows us how to lead with quiet dignity, genuine empathy, and steady effectiveness. Learn like your life depends on it. If you know enough to teach, then teach. If you have the opportunity to learn, then learn. If your classroom is a bathroom or cave, improvise. Learning must be a lifelong pursuit. Are you doing everything you can to be a teacher and learner? Extend kindness to everyone. Taking their lead from Mandela, many of the prisoners looked for the good in their warders and tried to engage them in occasional conversation. If a warder had become a first-time father, for example, Mandela would offer his congratulations. These small acts were often rejected. But some of the guards responded with their own kind comments and actions, and the barrier between prisoner and guard was slightly chipped away. In your case, you're not in nearly as adversarial a situation. But what about it? Are you doing all you can to reach out to people? Are you assuming the best about them and proceeding accordingly? Reject revenge -- embrace reconciliation. Battered by guards and beaten down by an inhumane system, many of the prisoners talked about revenge. When he heard these conversations, Mandela would turn things around by talking about truth, justice, and reconciliation. As he later put it: "While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering. We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil. A triumph of wisdom and largeness of spirit against small minds and pettiness...." So what about you? Are you taking the higher ground? In any of the tattered or broken relationships in your life, are you stepping forward with good intentions? Are you speaking and seeking the truth? Are you doing the hard work of engaging in meaningful dialogue? Nurture hope. Mandela carefully tended to hope just like he faithfully tended a garden during his later years of imprisonment. "I never though that a life sentence truly meant life and that I would die behind bars. Perhaps I was denying this prospect because it was too unpleasant to contemplate. But I always knew that someday I would once again feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine as a free man." In 1978, when his daughter Zeni made a first visit to Robben Island, Mandela was given the honor of naming his new granddaughter. He chose Zaziwe, which means Hope. "During all my years in prison hope never left me -- and now it never would," he wrote. Hope creates the gravitational pull for something better, and it's a force we can all create in our lives. Are you creating yours? Keep walking. Whether we're trying to build a better workplace, a better community, a better nation, or a better world, one truth stands above all others: the mission requires deep personal commitment and constancy of purpose. "I have discovered that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb," Mandela wrote in Long Walk to Freedom. "I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended." What about your long walk? Is your meaningful mission currently under way? If not, begin it today. If it is under way, then keep going. The future needs all of us. |
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