Freedom and Forgiveness the Power for Agency
My encounter with Nelson Mandela through Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, [1] and Bishop Desmond Tutu, in No Future Without Forgiveness, [2] revealed a treasure trove of ignorance and misinformation about Africa and Africans. I discovered that my deficit of knowledge and experience in the region was shaped vicariously by the stories and experiences of my missionary friends in the villages of Africa resulting in an informational conformity bias.[3] I found myself shocked by Mandela’s brilliance, education, and leadership proficiency to bring so many factions together in restorative peace and community, while being questioned, doubted, and criticized.
Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, [4] chronicles his life from the boy in the village, to activist, freedom fighter and ultimately the first president of South Africa elected by all the people. This thirty-thousand-foot overview is as much the history of the emergence of South Africa as it is an autobiography. The rich wealth of events, insights, atrocities against humanity, and the resilient character of one man who sacrificed it all for the good of everyone imploded my tiny mindset.
The more read I began to glean elements of the rich cultural life in the village that is superior to much of the Northern Hemisphere. This is exemplified by traditions, to adulthood in loving care of the community’s elders. This particularly resonated with me. I have watched so many young people attempt to navigate adolescence alone. They were desperately searching for anyone to define them rather than being a member of a loving community of individuals that have walked that path. They are often void of voices of truth and freedom that can hold up a mirror, allowing the young person to see themselves as a beautiful creation of God with a divine purpose.
I describe President Mandela as a man on a journey to reestablish God’s desire for humanity to be free, for all the people of his country. His Christian education contributed to his resolve in righting the abuses of Apartheid [5] and in a manner that honored the Africans and all the people groups that had occupied South Africa. The church-based schools provided a quality education but were contributors to the racial divide. [6] Like other Christian missions, these schools exhibited a kind of help, that Anne Lamott mentioned in her TED Talk, as “the sunny side of control.” [7]
Why is it so easy to sweep into a situation that we have deemed needs fixing and do? This often causes us to behave in a manner that is contemptuous [8] and steals the agency from those in the struggle.
Why is it so hard to just show up and walk alongside and encourage someone in their struggle? [9] Could it mean I need to set myself aside to be present, listen, and give my power away so that someone else can experience the joy of the victory?
No Future Without Forgiveness, [10] chronicles the establishment and process of the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” [11] This was the newly formed South African government’s means for bring healing to a country devastated by racial violence, prejudice, the scars of hate and oppression.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process fascinated me because it was so different from the Nuremberg trails after the Holocaust of World War II. The goals and results accomplished different results. The TRC created a venue for victims to be given a voice heard and perpetrates to testify to their own actions, resulting in the potential of healing for both. The most controversial aspect was amnesty for those who engaged in unimaginable atrocities. This process of “restorative justice” [12] was far quicker, and focused on healing than the “retributive justice,” [13] with the goal of punishment. It was clear, with concrete conditions: acknowledgement of politically motivated acts, and not police to qualify for amnesty. The purpose was to find a way to reintroduce humanity into a society that had been devastatingly dehumanized. [14] I believe for both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu this process was a method of inviting in all the other peoples of South Africa to “Ubuntu.” [15] They extended forgiveness and an invitation to form a society where the “essence of” one another’s humanness is “inextricably bound up” [16] together.
I wonder if Europe had used a more restorative justice model there would not be a war in Ukraine. Would the Caucasian peoples of Europe be more inclusive of their immigrant neighbors?
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1 Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography (New York [ U.S.A.]: Little, 2013).
2 Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness, Nachdr., An Image Book (New York: Doubleday, 2000).
3 Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, 2021, 34.
4 Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 28.
5 Ibid., 50.
6 Ibid., 31–53.
7 Anne Lamott, “12 Truths I Learned from Life and Writing,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X41iulkRqZU.
8 Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection & the Language of Human Experience (New York: Random House, 2021), 226–29.
9 Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk (New York: Scribner Classics, 2012).
10 Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness.
11 Ibid., 45.
12 Ibid., 55.
13 Ibid., 54.
14 Brown, Atlas of the Heart, 233–34.
15 Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness, 31.
16 Ibid.
About the Author
Denise Johnson
Special Education teacher K-12, School Counselor K-12, Overseas field worker in Poland,5 responses to “Freedom and Forgiveness the Power for Agency”
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Thanks Denise. I too feel like I have a limited knowledge of the history and culture of South Africa, thus, I too appreciated Mandela’s historical accounting of his upbringing. It as inspiring to see how much effort (studies, work, struggles, imprisonment) he designated for the freedom of his people. I wonder, where did that drive (self-differentiation) come from, and are there ways to stimulate that in other places like you suggest, such as Ukraine?
Eric: I totally agree. I was challenged by Mandela’s perseverance to the cause and values. It is difficult to find leaders today that exhibit that self-sacrifice, actually laying down their lives for all.
Denise, great job relating the events from the book to our current moment globally. I’m fascinated by your statement about the restorative process and if that would have averted the Ukraine war. Can you say more about that? How do you think that would have helped to stave off the present conflict? Also, having been to Poland and knowing your connection there, my experience this summer there leads me to believe that the Polish people are the heroes of the story so far. Ukrainian refugees are nowhere to be seen because they’ve been taken in by the Poles. One man said that because the Poles understand suffering, they are very willing to help others who suffer. Sounds like something Desmond Tutu would say!
Roy: I am so pleased that you have been able to return to Poland this summer. I had planned to, but my brother became deathly ill.
It is true that the Polish people are the heroes!
My impression is the leadership behind the scenes of the Ukraine War, on all sides does not possess the self-sacrificing qualities of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Their lack of transparency, accountability, corruption, and deception are safely hidden by acts of grandeur that only extend the devastation.
Denise: I too, was woefully ignorant about all the details that were involved in South Africa’s transition from Apartheid to Democracy. I only knew the headlines when it was happening; I’m so glad I got the chance to read both books. The TRC was a case study in leadership and wisdom. Even once it was established, it could have gone wrong in so many ways, but each step of the way, cooler heads prevailed. So glad I understand now what happened in that country in that time period.