Nelson Mandela was a saint. Most of us are not. Deal with it.

[riqster]

http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/nelson-mandela-was-a-saint-most-of-us-are-not-deal-with-it/

I am raising that point because there are already politicians, pundits, and everyday schmucks trying to minimize Mandela’s greatness by “explaining” how he was really only doing what anyone else would have done, no big deal, and other such crap. Here is the blunt and cranky response:

Just stop talking, you purblind nitwits. SHUT THE FUCKING FUCK UP.

By just reading those last two sentences, you can tell that I’m no saint. Mandela didn’t speak that way, even when subjected to far greater provocation.

Here are more examples:

Dick Cheney recently got a new heart, courtesy of a dying man who donated his organs. He publicly said that he hadn’t given any thought to the person who saved his life with that selfless act. Mandela used to say “thank you” to his prison guards on Robben Island.

This writer was raped as a young child, and has not forgiven those who raped him. Mandela forgave those who raped an entire nation and its people.

Mitch McConnell said that his entire focus had to be defeating everything that President Obama attempted to do, in order to gain political power. Mandela shared power with those who had done his party far more harm than the Dems had done to McConnell’s.

Get the picture? Some people are just plain saints, and to attempt to bring them down to our level is dishonest and despicable. Don’t try to cope with your feelings of inferiority by trying to drag down the few giants among us. Indeed, all of us would be better served if we tried to achieve sainthood ourselves.

This writer knows he’ll never be a tenth of what Mandela was, and will never accomplish a hundredth of what he did. And that’s OK. Some people are giants, and serve as an example to the rest of us. Don’t be jealous, be inspired.

Mandela was a giant, a genius, a tenacious fighter, and a saint. He earned all those titles. Leave them to him, and let him rest in peace. A peace he richly deserves, since he brought peace to millions of others.

[former9thward]

1. Mandela was not a saint.

No one is. And no one is going to "shut the fucking up" despite attempts to shut down discussion.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. Well, "saints", at least in the Catholic view, are all considered flawed human beings.

Think St. Peter and the denial of Christ, etc.

But the thing about saints was that their virtues far outweighed whatever failings they may have had.

So theologically speaking, it's not that bad a comparison.

[former9thward]

12. He became great because he rejected the African 'strong man' model of governing.

He was a Marxist for most of his life but discarded that when he left prison. He governed with unification in mind as opposed to retribution. He also governed as a pragmatist. He only served one term, rejecting the leader for life model. All of these things helped unify his country and made him great.

[riqster]

15. Correct. Flawed people that overcome their flaws.

That is a saint.

[cilla4progress]

2. More like a Christ

I would say.

[riqster]

16. Not with the violent past.

He overcame that.

[niyad]

3. . .

[Skidmore]

4. Mandela would be the first to dispel the notion that he was a "saint" or a "Christ". He often did

so during his lifetime. He was among the great teachers and souls of the earth and the lesson of his life is enough to cast a glaring light on the small minded revisionists who sought to bring down the civil rights movements in the world. It now falls to us, whether we lived through those chaotic times in history or not, to preserve the institutional and generational memories for those who follow. And it also falls to us to press the vision of peace and brotherhood forward. Part of that is teaching those very enemies of the common good to love their fellow man. That is the lesson that Madiba would have us learn.

[riqster]

7. Yes, he did say so.

My point is that he was a great man, dud great things, and that to attempt to minimize him (or demonize, as Cheney has done), or to spin false equivalences (as Santorum is doing) is despicable.

We can aspire to greater heights ourselves, and indeed we should. But we won't get higher by dragging others down to our one level: we only rise by our efforts to rise.

[Skidmore]

9. I believe that we said essentially

the same thing. My point is that we can accomplish so much more by educating people to philosophy and through nonviolent means. Mandela himself rejected presenting anger as the mode of communication. Tone obscures and detracts from the message.

[riqster]

10. Different tones for different audiences.

I agree with your message completely. On my experience, some people respond well to a calm, meditative, gentle approach. Others need to hear a more assertive tone.

[Posteritatis]

14. Hell, the comparison is one of the few things that would visibly annoy him.

... Of course, that probably makes the honorific more rather than less applicable, at which point we're blundering around the inherent contradictions of especially good people.

[TheKentuckian]

5. I lean closer to agreement than dispute here.

I think Mandela was a better person than I even aspire to be, I think in his shoes when I got out of that prison I think part of me could not live with not making Malcolm X seem like say Ron Christie or something.

[riqster]

8. Great people exist among us.

I can't do what he did. No way. I CAN do my best to improve myself, every day, and that is my task.

[upi402]

6. Mitch McConnell is the Anti-Mandela

Yes, the hairdos on TV news make noise come out of their mouths in a convincing manner.
So did Ted Bundy.
It's now a skill set.

[Scurrilous]

13. K & R

[cilla4progress]

17. I speak of the historical christ,

as is MY tradition.

I do simply believe that Jesus, as well as Gandhi, St. Francis of Assisi, perhaps the current Pope Francis - they are cut from the same cloth. They stand head and shoulders above most humans, based on their transformation, their vision, their sacrifice and discipline.

I think if a "bible" were still being written, Mandela would have a place in it as a savior of people, and a role model for the ages.

[riqster]

18. Bodhisattvas, in another culture.

Same idea.

[cilla4progress]

19. Yup

[fujiyama]

20. I don't understand this need to confer and bestow "sainthood"

I don't even like the term. It makes me cringe and it carries all sorts of religious connotations. It makes it look like he was divinely inspired. We do the same thing in this country for the founding fathers - and more recent presidents (Kennedy comes to mind and among the right, Reagan). And it almost seems like Washington was born of marble.

Mandela was indeed a man of great moral character, courage, and fortitude. He's definitely one of the top ten most influential and most admired political leaders of the twentieth century. His story should be one of inspiration. But it's not like he didn't make mistakes and it can be argued he didn't take on the AIDS crisis and crime in his country as aggressive as he should have during his short time in office (though he became a major advocate for funding and education after he left office).

[riqster]

21. That range of good/bad is why I chose "saint".

Saints are seriously fucked-up people who turned their lives around and became forces for good. And that is applicable here, from all evidence.

Such people are in many ways more inspiring because they had to go through the transformative experience to reach their eventual selves. Not easy, and most people never put in the effort and pain that is required to get there.

Mandela is inspiring not because he was perfect. He is inspiring because he wasn't.