Todays speech from Steve Farrell, worldwide coordinating director, Humanitys Team ~ with other pictures from the days events. To Graca Machel, to Ms. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, to Mr. Mandela’s children, his grand-children, his great grand-children and the entire family; to Mr. Sello Hatang, Executive Director of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, to President Zuma and members of the government; to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to members of the Humanity’s Team Global Council, distinguished guests, to the people of South Africa –It is a singular honor to be here with you today to present our Humanity’s Team Spiritual Leadership Award to the late Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela embodied all we honor and hold sacred in Humanity’s Team and it is a great privilege that we give our Spiritual Leadership award to him posthumously during today’s ceremony. I’m going to share briefly about Humanity’s Team as we begin because you may not be familiar with us. We are a global grassroots spiritual movement without religious affiliation. We respect and honor each of the world’s religious traditions and espouse the universal values of loving cooperation and compassionate care for humanity and the Earth. We were founded in June, 2003 by spiritual author Neale Donald Walsch but we’ve been self-led by a volunteer leadership team including me since shortly after our founding. Members of our global council are present here with us today. We’ve grown from less than a thousand to over 100,000 today and we’re present in over 150 countries. Our growth has been fueled by the belief that that we must renew and restore our connection with God and each other because it is in this that we will act from our highest capacities. The late Nelson Mandela was a vivid example of this. It is important that we hold up Nelson Mandela’s example now because he modeled how we can all live our lives if we are to heal our communities and our planet. Certainly, this is an urgent priority as we begin the 3rd Millennium. It is a great honor to speak about Nelson Mandela whose legacy stands alone. I do so with the utmost respect and humility. Rarely has a man walked the Earth who has had the impact of Nelson Mandela. He was one of the world’s greatest leaders and statesman of the 20th Century, South Africa’s first democratically elected president, the visionary who led the South African people to a ‘rainbow nation’, a healer who created a post-Apartheid South Africa, a leader who overcame the most severe personal circumstances with integrity, forgiveness and grace -- in such a way that he moved the whole world. Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations said, “Mandela was probably the most admired, most respected international figure in the world” and I’m sure this is true. The world will never be the same. His example lives on. This is what we are here to celebrate and honor today. Much has been said about what Nelson Mandela accomplished in his lifetime. Little has been spoken about how he accomplished it. How does a boy who lost his father at an early age grow up to transform a nation and deeply impact the world? How does one endure being in prison for 27 years, most spent in a 7 by 9 foot cell? How does a man become more tolerant, more wise and more forgiving when he is cut off from so much life with family and friends? During Nelson Mandela’s Memorial some spoke of Ubuntu and shared it was perhaps Mandela’s greatest gift. We believe this is true and believe Ubuntu was perhaps the transformational thing that shaped the person and the programs Nelson Mandela was so passionate about. Ubuntu affirms all of life is interconnected, interrelated and interdependent. Roughly translated it means, “I am because we are.” It is an ancient African word reflecting a deeply spiritual paradigm that holds all of life as Divine. This awareness is deeply transformative. In Ubuntu when we look out at the world, we see the Sacred in each person and all of life. It is not going too far to say we take on a new identity, a larger self. There is a sense of priority, responsibility and service to the world around us. We come into compassionate service to each other because truly we are One. Ubuntu teaches us that our highest priority must be to nurture all forms of life in order to create a just, compassionate and sustainable Earth. In the English language, it means Oneness. Perhaps Nelson Mandela’s greatest life lesson was his embodiment of Ubuntu. We don’t tend to think of Nelson Mandela as a spiritual leader, but when we stand back and look at the whole of his life, and the way he forgave those who imprisoned his country and him personally for 27 years, we must ask what lessons might we take away. Nelson Mandela occasionally spoke of Ubuntu and once said, “When we were young, a traveler through a country would stop at a village, and he didn’t have to ask for food or water; once he stops, the people give him food and entertain him. That is one aspect of Ubuntu, but it will have various aspects. Ubuntu does not mean that people should not address themselves. The question is, are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you, and enable it to improve?” Like all great leaders, Nelson Mandela spent more time embodying his message than talking about it. He was a living demonstration of lessons in how to forgive and how to inspire. Nelson Mandela prayed in private, letting his actions speak for him. Nelson Mandela’s spirituality was a mainstay for daily living. It was spirituality for the street. Mandela favored collaboration over competition, compassion over retribution and inclusivity over exclusivity. Despite provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life was an inspiration to all who are oppressed or deprived. In his later years Nelson Mandela focused on bringing roads, electricity, water and toilets to the poor. He knew these projects would take many years and would not succeed in his lifetime. Just as Gandhi left a legacy of non-violent resistance, Mandela left a legacy embodying Ubuntu/Oneness and he planted seeds that are germinating in many spheres of life today. Ubuntu ideas were applied during climate change talks in Durban, South Africa in January, 2012. Ubuntu is the name of the world’s most popular free Operating System. Bill Clinton embraces Ubuntu in his philanthropic work. Ubuntu has been used as a rallying call in professional basketball in the United States. These are only a few examples of how Ubuntu is spreading. Nelson Mandela would often acknowledge his shortcomings and certainly did not consider himself a saint. Perhaps Mandela again shows us the way. We needn’t walk on water or be perfect to make a difference in our own life or in the world around us. Nelson Mandela demonstrated that it is more important to be devoted, become involved and to take action than to be perfect. Nelson Mandela’s life example gives us many things to deeply consider. Do we make time to commune with the Divine within and to become transformed by its grace and beauty? Are we integrating this spirituality into our daily lives? Do we go out of our way to take care of our self, our family, our community and the world around us? It is never too late and perhaps now is the time to begin. Nelson Mandela began the job and seeds have been planted but there is much work to be done. Let’s awaken humanity to Ubuntu/Oneness! Let’s see the Sacred in each other and our Earth home! Let’s bring infrastructure supporting roads, electricity, water and toilets to the poor! Let’s coalition build and let’s create a world that works for everyone including animal and plant life! Let’s together, follow in Nelson Mandela’s footsteps and complete the job. Perhaps there is nothing more satisfying than this that we can give our lives to and certainly we must all agree that now is the time.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 19:09:09 +0000
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