URL – http://nabsites.net/demo/praying-for-nelson-mandela-symbol-of/
February 11, 1990 was a heavy day for me, I was glued to the TV to watch the
historical event happening in my life time; the release of Nelson Mandela from
the South African Prison. I choked, and I cried. And again, today is a heavy day for me. I am anxious about his health. He is in his last days of his life, the
president of South Africa has given up on Medicine and counting on blessings
and prayers from the people around the world. May God keep his wisdom and the
flame of freedom alive?
Freedom is the most cherished value for me, and to see freedom at last for a
man in an apartheid nation was worth crying. A new tone of democracy was going
to be set in the world for the first time in the predominantly Black African
Nation.
I am also kicking myself – two weeks ago, my friend Sante Chary and I briefly
talked about jumping in the plane and go visit Nelson Mandela, we had to go
through a lot of rig morale to see him, we dropped the idea. Sante has a
distinction among many things – to have an envelope signed by nearly eight US
Presidents and several world leaders. He is a go getter and gets things done.
Sante is one of the few friends where he and I have nothing to trade, nothing
to gain, but just wish and support each other in our endeavors. I like this
guy!
held? He shook the empire, they could have easily killed or poisoned him, but
they did not have the guts to do that. What made Gandhi, Mandela, and MLK
successful?
None of them had anything to gain, all they wanted was justice and harmony in
the society, and that was their drive, when you become unselfish, you can do a
lot of good to the world. It begins with
learning to respect the otherness of other and accepting the God given uniqueness
of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
Nelson Mandela is one of my mentors. Some of the other joy-teary moments that I can recall are –
release of Mandela, fall of the Berlin
wall, Obama’s election night, Peace
treaty between Israeli and Egypt, Peace between Ireland and England, Aung San
Su Kyii’s release and Freedom at last for the Egyptian people.
What made these men and women unique and powerful?
They were free from the pettiness and all embracing and affectionate like the
spiritual Master of all religions. Several
things were common to them; among them are:
1) No wall between them and another soul
2) No religious and political boundaries for them
3) No preference when it came to serving another
human
4) The good they did, benefited larger humanity
than self
5) Justness was a paramount value for them
6) No bone of prejudice in them.
7) Their world is the same size as God’s world.
Mike Ghouse is a
speaker
,thinker and a
writer
on
pluralism
,Islam,
Israel,
India,
interfaith,
and cohesion at work place. He is
committed to building a
Cohesive
America
and offers pluralistic solutions on
issues of the day at
www.TheGhousediary.com.
He believes in
Standing up for others
and has done that throughout his life as
an activist. Mike has a presence on
national and local TV, Radio and Print
Media. He is a frequent guest on
Sean
Hannity show on Fox
TV, and a commentator on national radio
networks, he contributes weekly to the
Texas Faith Column at
Dallas Morning News;
fortnightly at
Huffington post;
and several other periodicals across the
world. His personal site
www.MikeGhouse.net
indexes his work through many links.