Today we celebrate the confluence of spiritual and legal rhetoric in the service of human rights. Martin Luther King Jr. (picking up where Mohandas Gandhi left off) is honored for striding for one's beliefs -- using passive resistance not taking up arms against our enemies and oppressors. Mandela too deployed this powerful tool in the service of his people against the South African government. Understanding the underbelly of humanity, they lead the way against colonial and racial oppression by their example of non-violence.
As great orators and politicians in their own right, these leaders mobilized large groups of people at a time when twitter, facebook, email, blackberry and smart phones did not exist. Pioneers of the grass roots movements, they had to convince through cogency, urgency, and the sustenance of defeat that they would not surrender. Initially only those closest to them would hear them out, and then slowly others began to realize the powerful meaning behind their actions of resistance. It was this example not of glorious battle and purple hearts, but their adherence to the principles cradling humanity in compassion, equality of opportunity and consideration, that they were worth following. Much like 'cool hand Luke' they took one punch after another, till they earned their stripes and the respect of the people they sought to lead, almost inadvertantly realizing the stature being bestowed upon them.
It is interesting too to understand that our current forte in marketing to the masses misses that grass roots appeal that can only come from doing not saying. What was this doing they did? These leaders realized that they had to take the punches and make themselves vulnerable in a way that frightened the people they sought to free from bondage. People could actually look at these leaders as the experimental but lived fantasy of a life first resisting the idea of oppression and then living a life free of it. Not unlike the experimental fantasy of flying finally lived by the Wright brothers, success involved a lot of hard knocks, literally. For as they lead others, they encountered the hand and club of the oppressor. Many of their followers died in that march for freedom, whether it was against the oppression of foreign colonization, or of racial segregation. Mandela actually fought both at the same time in its most ingrained form -- apartheid, and gave up twenty-five years of his life to imprisonment at the hands of his oppressors.
Where law and politics meet humanity, we must leave the classroom. We can bring the books with us to guide us, but we must count on our hearts to tell us the truth. It is a dark road through the brush that no one has dared to hack. To make way for a different consideration of the situation and to bring people along, the fight must be real and it must affect many. There are real fights in this world. There are situations that are being taken as normal but they are not normal. There are situations that many people know are not right, but because they provide comfort to some people with power, influence and money, others will not speak. Today these struggles are being taken up in many fora - personally in the home, politically in various agendas for change and reform, and legally as some of us fight for truth and justice. Today is a day to celebrate all such struggle and to support it if you have a chance!
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