Freedom Train

I officially finished Long Walk to Freedom yesterday, and I am not quite sure what to do with myself now, frankly. A book that takes you more than two months to read sort of gets under your skin. While I attempt to find another book to fill the void (Top picks right now include Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott, Things Fall Apart by Achebe, and Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. Feel free to give suggestions.), please enjoy these last few pearls of wisdom from Nelson.

Speaking of the celebration after his inauguration:

The day was symbolized for me by the playing of our two national anthems,and
the vision of whites singing "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica" and blacks singing "Die Stem," the old anthem of the republic. Although that day neither group knew the lyrics of the anthem they once despised, they would soon know the words by heart.

Speaking of the struggle:

The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in my country and my people. All of us will spend many years, if not generations, recovering from that profound hurt. But the decades of oppression and brutality had another, unintended, effect, and that was that it produced the Oliver Tambos, the Walter Sisulus, the Chief Luthulis, the Yusuf Dadoos, the Bram Fischers, the Robert Sobukwes of our time--men of such extraofdinary courage, wisdom and generosity that their like may never again be known again. Perhaps it requires such great depths of oppression to create such heights of character.

And some random quotable quotes:

"People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

"Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me."

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

Oh, and the best find of the week: Nelson is a Methodist. I think I'll just visit every church in the city, and surely I'll find him somewhere...