[Neurons] 2013 "Neurons" -- Meta Reflections #52

[L. Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall


Meta Reflections 2013  #52

Dec. 9, 2013


 

 

MANDELA- 

A LEADER LIKE NONE OTHER

 

 

"Mandela has passed."  Those were the words that first announced to the
world at 2 am South African time, Dec. 6, by the current President of South
Africa that a great leader had died.  And if you've been watching TV or
following on any number of news websites- documentaries of his life story
and interviews with many people who knew him have been playing over and
over.  And rightly so- almost universally he is recognized as a leader like
none other.

 

But why?  What did he do, what did he accomplish, and who was he that makes
him stand out head and shoulders above other leaders?

 

Part of the story is the tremendous life-long struggle he had to fulfill a
vision.  The vision itself was simple, obvious, and self-explanatory- to
bring freedom and equality to his people.  He wanted a free South Africa.
He wanted democracy for all.  He wanted the racist apartheid system to end
and to create for his country what exists in other democracies around the
world.  What he wanted was not extraordinary.  It was and is a basic human
right.

 

Part of the story was how long it took to realize his dream.  It took a very
long time!  He was able to rise up in the context of the heavy prejudice in
his country to get educated, to become a lawyer and then to become a fighter
against racist system of apartheid.  From that position he then stepped
forward as a young professional man to begin his resistance to the current
system.  When the system then found a way to unjustly imprison him, he spent
27 of his "prime" years as a prisoner of the system that he sought to
reform.  27 years!  He went sometimes two years at a time not seeing his
wife and family.  And for 11 of those years he was forced to break rocks in
the hot sun.

 

Yet none of that killed his dream.  None of that stopped him from
persisting.  That is what stands out as absolutely incredible.  How long
have you devoted to making your life dreams come true?  His vision
continued.  Mistreat, abuse, the punishment of hard labor, none of that
killed his spirit.  And to make it even more amazing- through it all he
became a better man.  He could have become bitter.  He did not.  He became
better.   Over the weekend, President Bill Clinton said that Mandela went in
an angry man and that he told him he beat the rocks for 11 years getting out
his anger.

 

And why?  How?  Meaning.  He had within in mind and heart an inspiring
vision of justice and equality and the meaningfulness of that vision drove
him forward.  And he refused to play the victim!  Even though he was being
unfairly treated, mistreated in cruel ways, he believed he had control and
choice.   So he began writing from prison.  And not because that was easy.
He had to write and sneak out his writings.

 

His biography, The Long Road to Freedom, does not say this, but frame by
implication he had to have a frame in his mind that he was free, he had
choice, he could do something, his life still counted, and his actions did
matter.   Those are all of the qualities and meta-states of resilience.
Amazing, eh?  One news reporter said that when he greeted him in Feb. 1990
after 27 years of imprisonment, he looked like a man back from a 3 day
holiday.  Now how incredible is that?   That's speaks about the power of the
mind- to make rich and robust meanings which keeps a person vital!

 

Part of the story is the ending- from prisoner to president!  Now there's a
rags to riches story if there ever was one!  The man that they tried to beat
down in prison, in depriving him of contact with family, with trying to shut
his mouth- steps up to the podium as President.  And so he becomes President
of the new South Africa (1993-1999) and what is even more amazing than that
is what he did as President.

 

What did he do?  Unlike almost every other president in African countries or
the surrounding Middle East countries-when he became President he protected
those who made his life so miserable, forgave them, and created a system of
reconciliation.  He did not imprison or kill his enemies.  He did not
retaliate.  He did not do what is most "natural" in human nature that is not
developed.  Immature human nature retaliates.  But mature, grown-up, and
well developed human nature- human nature actualizing its highest and best -
forgives, treats others with respect, looks for the good of the whole.  And
that's what Mandela did.

 

When F.W. DeClarke, the white President of South Africa came to power, he
immediately began undoing the apartheid system.  He freed Mandela from
prison and then began negotiating with Mandela as they worked together to
end apartheid.  Upon his death, DeClarke noted this weekend that Mandela did
not just negotiate for his people, he also negotiated for the whites.  He
argued that the whites had to be made safe.  And that's what prevented a
civil war- a war that many expected and that people in those days were
preparing for.  Amazing!  Talk about collaboration!

 

Now for something even more amazing.  Mandela came from a tribal background.
His forefathers were tribal leaders there in Africa.  But... and this is a
gigantic but ... but he did not behave in a tribal manner.  Unlike what's
happening in Iraq and Iran and other Middle East Arab countries and other
African countries with all of the tribal wars and massacres, Mandela refused
the tribal mind-set and frame of reference.  Isn't that absolutely
incredible?

 

A self-actualizing leader and especially, a self-actualizing political
leader does not misuse power.  He or she is, in fact, the only person who
should be given power because the self-actualizing person respects power and
does not crave it.  Most politicians are not like that.  Most are hungry for
power and therefore are not to be trusted with it. When he created his
government and his cabinet, he actually put his opponents in positions of
power.   Now how amazing is that?  How was that possible?  He trusted them.
And they came to trust him.  That was his thinking and belief.  He himself
said, "In order to be trusted, you have to trust."

 

I heard Charles Krauthamer on Fox News say that Mandela he was a great
leader because he forgave.  He said that given what the apartheid government
had done to him- mistreated him, submitted him to 27 years of prison life,
what he found amazing was that there was no sign of resentment and hatred in
him.  He said, "If he didn't feel bitter after all those years- that in
itself is amazing and incredible.  If he did feel it and did not express it-
well, that is saintly!  Absolutely brilliant."  Now imagine that- no
bitterness after when he went through what he went through!  For me, another
sign of a self-actualizing man- a self-actualizing leader, a
self-actualizing politician.

 

If there was ever a truly great leader-it seems to me that the vote
worldwide would probably go to Nelson Mandela, hands down.  And why?  What
sets him head and shoulders above other leaders?  (1913-2013).

He had a broad and bright vision equality for all, a dream that all would be
treated with dignity.

He lived that vision.  It was not just talk.  He walked that talk and was
willing to pay the price for it.

He refused to give up that vision when everything in his world looked
impossible not for just this year, for 2 years for 10 years, for 20 years,
for 27 years!

He suffered for that vision and he suffered with a grace that strikes most
of us as unworldly, beyond this world.

When he had power to get back at those who took away his best yeas and he
did not misuse it.   He did not use it for revenge.

            He led South Africa to transformation without a civil war.

 

Is there is such a thing a great political leader- a self-actualizing
political leader?  Yes.  Mandela has pioneered that trail.  It is possible.
We can no longer dismiss the possibility.  He has given us a model and
exemplar for Political Science and what Government can be.  Today we can now
say to our government leaders who play dirty politics, are not transparent,
play political games to besmirch the opposition, etc. - look at Nelson
Mandela!  Let the light of his example chase away the darkness of your
example.

            

As a Neuro-Semanticist studying the highest values and meanings and the best
performances so that we can model them and transfer them so that they can be
replicate in the lives of others, Nelson Mandela provides a tremendous
example of moral courage, humility, and compassion.  He provides a model of
self-actualizing leadership.  May we have many, many more leaders in our
world like him!

                                                

 

 

 

 




 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

                Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

                Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

                1 970-523-7877 

                Dr. Hall's email:
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