Helping God Realize God's Dream
Mar. 30th, 2004 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rosawOr, Why Optimists Are Good for the Soul.
Desmond Tutu is a living symbol of the anti-apartheid movement, here and abroad. He is a powerful speaker and this was an experience I am very glad to have had. He spoke of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. He quietly told us about black women speaking to the commission of having their breasts mutilated by white guards and white women talking about losing their entire families to liberation movement bombs. He recounted horrible, painful things that human beings did to other human beings. And he spoke of the conversations those guards had with the woman they had tortured and the confrontation between a woman who had lost her entire family and the man who had made the bomb that killed them. He said that South Africa has faced its most painful hour and emerged stronger and more united, having begun to come to terms with South Africans of many races, having begun to heal the wound that was destroying the country.
He then thanked the US and all the people in the US who protested investments in South Africa, who boycotted businesses working with South Africa, who sent money, and who spent time praying, all their efforts, small and large, contributed to ending apartheid. He told the audience that without that support, South Africa would still be living under apartheid. People are good, he said, and Americans are capable of immense generosity and warmth. Evil is the exception, bad people are made not born, and can become as good as the majority. Because look how good people are, how good we are. As the applause died down, he smiled expansively at the packed auditorium. And then he said, very quietly, that perhaps it is time for a truth and reconciliation commission in the United States. Perhaps it is time for a truth and reconciliation commission in the United States to talk about slavery and its terrible legacy, to talk about the genocide of the Native Americans and that legacy for the people and the land. Perhaps it is time for a truth and reconciliation commission in the United States to discuss the economic disparity in all our cities, to discuss why some don't have enough to eat and others have all the wealth of the world at their fingertips. It would be good for the US he said, because it would remind us, Americans, that all humanity is one.
Here is a man who has heard so many horrific things that humans have done to each other, has seen first hand the kind of cruelty that power and fear combined create, and yet he believes in the INHERENT goodness of humanity. He reminded us of our support for his cause, of our goodness in the face of the evils of apartheid. He spoke of the possibilities for massive violence in South Africa after the 1994 election of an all black government and how none of that violence erupted. Because South Africa remembered and re-learned that all humanity is one. Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Africans were able to reach out and share both sides of the story and see each other as human beings rather than racial beings.
All creation is good, he said, all races -- black, white, red, yellow -- all are united in their humanity. Because all races are united by their humanity, people should focus on that uniting element. All humanity is one. In god's dreams, he said, god dreams that god's creations love each other, heal each other, work together to create god's world. We can make god's dream real. We can love each other, heal each other, work together to make the world one. He spoke of the humanity of gays, lesbians, and "so-called straight" people, the humanity of Muslims and Jews, of Sharon and Arafat, and then he said two names together, to remind us, to keep us honest, George Bush and Osama bin Laden. All humanity is one, he said, whether they are enemies or allies. And all are capable of doing good, because evil, as he and South Africa learned under apartheid, evil is the minority. And evil is not our natural state, we learn to be evil. We can unlearn evil. How? Through facing our pain and our differences openly and with honesty. This potential conversation could heal the wounds made by the past. We are all created by god, we are all human, and we are all capable of goodness. We should listen to each other rather than blow each other up, heal each other rather than bomb each other, love each other rather than hate each other. Because all humanity is one and we are capable of tremendous goodness.
There should have been singing at this point. But he just walked over and sat in the chair on the stage, looking at the audience. For a just a second after he walked away from the podium there was dead silence. Then the auditorium erupted in applause and the majority of the audience stood. Some very pointedly did not stand. I think bringing up bin Laden took tremendous courage and that some in the audience were not blessed by Archbishop Tutu's advice for the future of the United States. I don't imagine it was easy to hear twenty years ago in South Africa, either. However, CMC gave him their "highest honor" -- the Distinguished Public Service Award that pronounces him a role model for all CMC students -- and we all went home.
I was quite moved by his talk. He said many brave and thrilling things and was a balm to a poor liberal-now-leftist's heart and soul. I was overwhelmed by his optimism, by his capacity for hope, by his generosity of spirit. I have no optimism about humanity, though I am a good child of the enlightenment and modernity. I believe(d) that the ignorant can be educated, that social change comes from tolerance and understanding, and that people can possibly be good. Sometimes. With proper motivation. Because, with all this hope for education, I did become a teacher. And now I no longer believe in education. At least, I no longer believe education will change the world. Some individuals, yes. But the world? No way.
But hearing Archbishop Tutu express his hope, his undying belief in the potential of humanity to live in peace and tolerance, reminded me of the importance of hope. And the necessary service optimists provide.
Apologies to Mark -- there was only 1 ticket available or I would have taken you with me.
My office was full of students today. We just got back from Spring break and there was much rejoicing. But there were things I needed to do that so did not get done. Because there were students to talk to and that was much more enjoyable.
Desmond Tutu is a living symbol of the anti-apartheid movement, here and abroad. He is a powerful speaker and this was an experience I am very glad to have had. He spoke of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. He quietly told us about black women speaking to the commission of having their breasts mutilated by white guards and white women talking about losing their entire families to liberation movement bombs. He recounted horrible, painful things that human beings did to other human beings. And he spoke of the conversations those guards had with the woman they had tortured and the confrontation between a woman who had lost her entire family and the man who had made the bomb that killed them. He said that South Africa has faced its most painful hour and emerged stronger and more united, having begun to come to terms with South Africans of many races, having begun to heal the wound that was destroying the country.
He then thanked the US and all the people in the US who protested investments in South Africa, who boycotted businesses working with South Africa, who sent money, and who spent time praying, all their efforts, small and large, contributed to ending apartheid. He told the audience that without that support, South Africa would still be living under apartheid. People are good, he said, and Americans are capable of immense generosity and warmth. Evil is the exception, bad people are made not born, and can become as good as the majority. Because look how good people are, how good we are. As the applause died down, he smiled expansively at the packed auditorium. And then he said, very quietly, that perhaps it is time for a truth and reconciliation commission in the United States. Perhaps it is time for a truth and reconciliation commission in the United States to talk about slavery and its terrible legacy, to talk about the genocide of the Native Americans and that legacy for the people and the land. Perhaps it is time for a truth and reconciliation commission in the United States to discuss the economic disparity in all our cities, to discuss why some don't have enough to eat and others have all the wealth of the world at their fingertips. It would be good for the US he said, because it would remind us, Americans, that all humanity is one.
Here is a man who has heard so many horrific things that humans have done to each other, has seen first hand the kind of cruelty that power and fear combined create, and yet he believes in the INHERENT goodness of humanity. He reminded us of our support for his cause, of our goodness in the face of the evils of apartheid. He spoke of the possibilities for massive violence in South Africa after the 1994 election of an all black government and how none of that violence erupted. Because South Africa remembered and re-learned that all humanity is one. Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Africans were able to reach out and share both sides of the story and see each other as human beings rather than racial beings.
All creation is good, he said, all races -- black, white, red, yellow -- all are united in their humanity. Because all races are united by their humanity, people should focus on that uniting element. All humanity is one. In god's dreams, he said, god dreams that god's creations love each other, heal each other, work together to create god's world. We can make god's dream real. We can love each other, heal each other, work together to make the world one. He spoke of the humanity of gays, lesbians, and "so-called straight" people, the humanity of Muslims and Jews, of Sharon and Arafat, and then he said two names together, to remind us, to keep us honest, George Bush and Osama bin Laden. All humanity is one, he said, whether they are enemies or allies. And all are capable of doing good, because evil, as he and South Africa learned under apartheid, evil is the minority. And evil is not our natural state, we learn to be evil. We can unlearn evil. How? Through facing our pain and our differences openly and with honesty. This potential conversation could heal the wounds made by the past. We are all created by god, we are all human, and we are all capable of goodness. We should listen to each other rather than blow each other up, heal each other rather than bomb each other, love each other rather than hate each other. Because all humanity is one and we are capable of tremendous goodness.
There should have been singing at this point. But he just walked over and sat in the chair on the stage, looking at the audience. For a just a second after he walked away from the podium there was dead silence. Then the auditorium erupted in applause and the majority of the audience stood. Some very pointedly did not stand. I think bringing up bin Laden took tremendous courage and that some in the audience were not blessed by Archbishop Tutu's advice for the future of the United States. I don't imagine it was easy to hear twenty years ago in South Africa, either. However, CMC gave him their "highest honor" -- the Distinguished Public Service Award that pronounces him a role model for all CMC students -- and we all went home.
I was quite moved by his talk. He said many brave and thrilling things and was a balm to a poor liberal-now-leftist's heart and soul. I was overwhelmed by his optimism, by his capacity for hope, by his generosity of spirit. I have no optimism about humanity, though I am a good child of the enlightenment and modernity. I believe(d) that the ignorant can be educated, that social change comes from tolerance and understanding, and that people can possibly be good. Sometimes. With proper motivation. Because, with all this hope for education, I did become a teacher. And now I no longer believe in education. At least, I no longer believe education will change the world. Some individuals, yes. But the world? No way.
But hearing Archbishop Tutu express his hope, his undying belief in the potential of humanity to live in peace and tolerance, reminded me of the importance of hope. And the necessary service optimists provide.
Apologies to Mark -- there was only 1 ticket available or I would have taken you with me.
My office was full of students today. We just got back from Spring break and there was much rejoicing. But there were things I needed to do that so did not get done. Because there were students to talk to and that was much more enjoyable.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-31 10:56 pm (UTC)