In the Eye of Mandela

What is so special about them? Recently Nelson Mandela passed away. His memory was celebrated in society at large. World leaders, celebrities, and many other individuals who could afford the trip traveled to South Africa to pay respect to a giant. And, the media was abuzz! Why did a poor black man capture so much attention and was revered by so many? Mandela and few others like him see an image of our world that most others cannot see. Such great men envision a society where the human beings are living in unity and mutual respect. And, they have committed to that end.

I started growing up with a hero named Toussaint Louverture. He proclaimed liberation from slavery on the Island of Hispaniola and set the way for the Negro race to freedom. He was different from the others who finalized Haiti’s independence because of his vision of unity and fairness. He chose to remain friendly and attached to France and the rest of the world. France betrayed and killed him. Yet, he had already sowed the seeds for the liberation from slavery that no man could destroy.

In my high school years, I arrived to know Martin Luther King. He was set apart from all the others with his dream that all men would arrive to live in unity where a black child could look at a white child without expecting to be lynched. They shot him, dead. And, discrimination remains as strong as ever. Still, the son of an African man and a Caucasian woman was elected the president of the United States, and thus leader of the free world. At the end, I met Mandela. For 27 years of his younger life, he was kept behind bars by racists and bigots in South Africa for his championing of freedom for his Negro kind. When he was liberated, he did not seek revenge. He emphasized instead that the ever divided nation be united. As the president of the country, he pardoned the oppressors and did his best to bring everybody together. The nation has experienced freedom and prosperity.

What is so special about them? Nelson Mandela, Toussaint Louverture, and Martin Luther King see the whole. They recognize our societal environment as a setting for mankind to live in unity and mutual respect, and that the mistreatment of one another would only bring greater suffering. Today, in South Africa as well as in the United States the Negro human beings are not confined to certain dilapidated areas; neither are they prevented from moving freely. The Caucasian beings are not allowed to shoot and lynch the Negro men as in the past. It is true that discrimination still persists everywhere; yet, only wealth remains the great divider.

They tried but they could not legally prevent Barak Hussein Obama from sitting in the Oval Office in Washington D.C. We must thank Toussaint Louverture, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and all the other great visionaries. It is certain that they would gladly see the ‘great divider’ diminished to zero; that certain groups of individuals are no longer hiding behind economic walls at the greater suffering of others. Our better existence needs such great men who can illuminate the myopic sight. From the cave, to slavery, to the present, our world has taken great strides. We thank all the great men who have contributed to ameliorate the human existence. We are looking forward to the moment when all men feel truly free and economic disparity touches its lowest end.

By E.C. GRANMOUN

E.C. Granmoun is the author of "Bully: A Novel" ebook on amazon.com
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