The week Nelson Mandela died, prayers and remembrances
poured in from all over the world. In
addition to the official funeral in South Africa, another memorial service was
held at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, featuring government
officials, activists, musicians, and religious leaders from the US and South
Africa.
I watched the livestream online as it happened. The speeches were moving, the singing was
great—both in English and in Xhosa, and I was really enjoying the service when
something really touching happened.
One of the choirs from South Africa started singing
‘Siyahamba’ in Swahili,--roughly translated “We are marching in the light of
God.” It’s a song that was widely used during the anti-apartheid protests. Suddenly, everyone in the cathedral started
singing along with the choir. Old,
young, black, white, American, South African—it didn’t matter. Everyone was on their feet, dancing and
clapping, as they sang along. The camera
panned across all these different faces, famous and not-so-famous,
spontaneously singing and dancing in celebration of Mandela’s life.
We often think of the existence of diversity as something
like tolerance—be nice to people who are different, but that’s as far as it
goes. However, limiting diversity to ‘be-nice’
tolerance never unlocks the richness of its many blessings. If you never learn about different cultures,
different people, different belief systems, then you never uncover the wisdom
beyond your own viewpoint. How much
poorer would we all be if we had never learned of the struggle and perseverance
of Nelson Mandela, and everyone else who worked for a truly democratic South
Africa?
Diversity, when we truly embrace it, is a gift. When we open ourselves, and listen closely
to the experiences of others, it opens up a wider world, beyond our narrow
context. Questions we didn’t even know
we were asking are answered, and the world becomes a more vibrant, richer, and more
alive place.
Chaplain Megan Castellan
School Chaplain and Committee Member
No comments:
Post a Comment