“Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit. There is a word in South Africa — Ubuntu — that describes his greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that can be invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us. …He not only embodied Ubuntu; he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.”

-President Barack Obama, in his speech at Nelson Mandela’s memorial on Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Last week, the world lost Nelson Mandela.  On that day, I was writing about birthdays and deadlines, and I made an off-hand reference to the final deadline being the one where we aren’t here any more, not yet knowing that that day in history was Madiba’s last.

Nelson Mandela was a person who achieved incredible things in his life, but who would ultimately, like so many others who worked to create a better world, die before his work was finished.  He was a person whose dreams were even larger and more beautiful than his already large life.

 

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As he wrote in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom:

 

“Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me…

I knew as well as anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.

…When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both.  Some say that has now been achieved.  But I know that is not the case.  The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed.  We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road.  For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” (emphasis added)

 

This is the essence, as President Obama said, of Mandela’s greatest gift to us: being a model of Ubuntu.

 

Ubuntu

 

I have seen many different linguistic translations of Ubuntu:

“I am, because you are.”

“I am a person through other people.  My humanity is tied to yours.”

“I am what I am because of who we all are.”

Yet the idea of Ubuntu is much richer than any translation I have yet seen.

I remember when I first heard of the concept–when serving with City Year.  I was struck by a chill of excitement that there was a word to describe a fundamental truth that I had felt–one I felt compelled to try and live by, one that is now a founding principle of this community.  The idea that we are all connected, in deep and fundamental ways we do not always understand; that we must become better not just for ourselves, but for everyone–more compassionate, encouraging, kind.  That the oppression or poverty of any one of us is oppression and poverty for all of us.

Yet it is one thing to realize this as an abstract truth, and another to live it, daily, with the memory of injustice and the knowledge that the people whose humanity you are defending stole the best years of your life.

The movie Invictus actually does a powerful job of showing all the little ways Nelson Mandela lived Ubuntu–this compassion, and deep belief in the interconnectedness of all people–in his day to day life: by wearing the uniform and championing the cause of a sports team that used to represent the people who oppressed him.  By asking his colleagues to work with the security team that had likely arrested or killed others they knew.  By shaking hands with people who look like those who threw his daughter out of her home while he was in prison.

He started with himself, where he was.  Even when that place was in prison.  He knew his anger would keep him a prisoner if he did not let it go.  Knew that if he tried to imprison or degrade his former captors, that he himself could never be free.  So he lived Ubuntu.  He did not back down from his ideals.  He did not condone actions that were against his values and his life’s mission.  But he worked toward reconciliation instead of revenge, and in doing so began to build a world where every person–even those who had done him wrong–would be free.

And he smiled.  Have you seen him in pictures?  His smile is radiant–full of joy and laughter.  He knew his work was not over, but he did not stop working.  He knew the world was not perfect, that people were not perfect…yet he smiled.

And his joy became ours.

Now let his purpose, Ubuntu, be ours as well.

How will we honor this man?  How will we live Ubuntu?