"If Madiba can do it, we can do it...."

Nelson Mandela in his Springbok rugby gear.

(courtesy of the Nelson Mandela foundation)

I wanted to post my thoughts and a little reflection about the wonderful movie Invictus, which I went to see last night with my friend Deanna.

I find myself very often getting very overwhelmed with the amount of hate in the world, with the amount of poverty, with the amount of war, with the amount of suffering.

Did you know that South Africa has the fastest growing AIDS rate in the entire world? Or that there are an estimated 1.5 million children in South Africa who have been orphaned by the virus?If you did, you probably also feel the crushing weight of these statistics.

Invictus was a reminder of why I won't let them discourage me.

Now, I don't know how much you know about Nelson Mandela, affectionately called "Madiba" by his country. (I have an amazing Madiba is my Homeboy shirt that I bought at an open air market in Pretoria). Let me tell you a little bit about him:

Mandela was elected president on April 27, 1994 during the first multiracial elections held in South Africa. People lined up for miles to vote:

But, a more important thing to know about Madiba is that before his election he spent 27 years as a political prisoner on Robben Island, a prison off the coast of Cape Town. Mandela was arrested because of his anti-Apartheid activities.

Now, to the point of this post....

When Mandela was released from Robben Island and elected president of South Africa, many people who had been persecuted by the Apartheid regime wanted vengeance.

Mandela would not have been out of line to seek this for himself. Yet, in an act of beautiful compassion, he did not seek revenge for his people. He began trying to unify the country in a way few could have ever accomplished.

With the help of Desmond Tutu (who happens to be my personal hero, but we can talk about that later), instead of punishment, Madiba began the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying:

"If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness."

Some people find it difficult to face this type of compassion under the crushing weight of the horrible things I mentioned earlier in this post. But, with the help of a leader such as Madiba, South Africa began a spiral of liberating forgiveness unifying themselves as the Rainbow Nation. And, as one of Mandela's security guards said during the film Invictus, If Madiba can do it, we can do it.