Days and Walks

Not your average day and not your average walk.

In truth, they never truly are.

That in itself is an inspirational teaching since neither of these things contains one shred of mediocrity unless we place it in them. Being lulled into predictability sameness can be a dangerous thing, but this day and this walk became a global reminder of the power we have beyond insurmountable challenges, dire circumstances, and perceived authority.

On February 11, 1990, at 4:14 pm, this day and this walk of Nelson “Madiba” Mandela captured the world’s attention. As a then university student in North Florida, I remained enrapt by events unfolding in real-time on my television screen, the decades-long chants of “Free Mandela” vibrating throughout my being. Almost anyone can sit in a vehicle and be driven, but there is a voluntary demonstrative fortitude in walking punctuated by what Mandela was walking from and what he walked toward.

Neither I nor the world could dismiss the gravitas of this moment.

Not your average man and not your average era.

Men or women who live or die by their principles never are. And every timespan contains potential energy for earthshaking change that in hindsight seems supernatural.

From the Madiba clan, a Mvezo, South African-born Rolihlahla Mandela forged a character and spirit tempered by both joys and hardships. His dreams of freedom for his people were fed by legendary war and resistance ancestral stories from the mouths of Elders. This ignition fire in the chest and mind is an experience to which many of Africa’s Children/Diaspora can attest. It connects us to a realm of power far greater than ourselves.

The struggle against apartheid South Africa had grown deep roots by the time I grew aware of it in my youth. I too felt the call to free the freedom fighters and dismantle a system that shed the blood of innocents and directed unspeakable torment for too long, classifying non-whites under a legalized caste system for disenfranchisement, suffering, and destitution.

Post-27 years of incarceration for fighting against the unjust and brutal system of apartheid, Mandela experienced significant health deterioration due to tuberculosis, age, and harsh conditions in the infamous Robben Island prison. Despite this, he strode to freedom with not one stoop or bow in posture from the brutality to which he had been subjected. The cheers and chants as he came into view with his then-wife Winnie on a day that cannot be forgotten because ultimately, evil did not triumph.

Quite possibly, some segments of the regime may have thought Mandela’s best years behind him, and this act of miniature consequence in the grand scheme of South Africa’s political power structure. But with apparent seamless majesty, he became President of the ANC (1991) received the joint Nobel Peace Prize on April 27, 1994, was elected democratically as South Africa’s first Black President, and then married his third wife (1998.) There is a substantial percentage of the populace who might achieve one of those things in an entire lifetime. Maybe.

Madiba often quietly encouraged the global citizenry to think bigger and develop self-mastery simultaneously.

A change in perspective.

That day and that walk symbolized potential greatness beyond a clock. A conventional construct. A calendar. Nothing in the way of pep-talk. Everything in the way of demonstration. Mandela may not have been a writer, but he aced “show don’t tell” by more than just a little bit.

For anyone who’s ever felt like they’ve exhausted life’s precious hourglass. Been obscured by insurmountable obstacles. Witnessed the worst humanity had to offer. Failed at love. Life.

Mandela became president at 77 years of age. Whilst in prison, Mandela’s mother passed away, then not long after, his eldest son, Thembi, died in an accident and he had no space to mourn either of them. He married again at 80 years young. He lived through the March 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, and 1976 Soweto Uprising during which unarmed school children were brutally shot by police. What a shining example to the human family of the expansive reaches of possibility despite debilitating hardship.

Not your average leader and not your average example.

Mandela refused to run for a consecutive term as President 1999 but continued to devote time toward democracy, equality, education, and organization infrastructures such as supporting the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation. The famous words uttered in court before his sentence, still stand as a legacy gold standard of what principle should mean in the world.

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black dominations. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

A man who went to prison at 44 and emerged at 71 isn't going to be the same man.

But before Mandela transitioned from this world on December 5, 2013, he first walked out of that prison while the eyes of billions absorbed and reflected on the numerous difficulties he endured and overcame. The dignity, stature, and poise he displayed served then, and continues to serve as a living memorial that engineered the dismantling of apartheid, showcasing the resolve of a nation.

He offered light in a dark and gloomy environment simply because as a man, he refused to be less. He let justice, conviction, compassion, and freedom for everyone lead him, and what a rich life repository to have as a result.

• Dissatisfaction and struggle continue until conditions change.
• Might does not rest with the powerful, it rests with the people.
• Circumstances cannot define us unless we let them.
• Impartiality is not the place for cowards and half-steppers.
• The needs of a nation’s inhabitants must always tip the scale.
• The best leaders serve others and nothing is beneath them as regards that service.

When trudging through the debilitating parts of existence, I take counsel from a leader who earned the love, respect, and admiration of a global public because I too accept the example Mandela left to be better than our former selves in our former situations. Be bolder than. Be brighter than.

Not your average life and not your average legacy.

An embodiment of all the courageousness I hope to develop while I yet breathe. For in every typical day exists a limitless potential, and in every routine walk, an opportunity to demonstrate those capacities for action.

And nothing about that is remotely average.

Thank you kindly for stopping by to read my story!

Sending you plenty of 'write vibes...'