Rolihlahla was named for making
trouble.
His teacher, knowing him or not,
changed
his name to Nelson, aiming him to alter
the nature of the state. Being
estranged
and yet a native son, Madiba became
the conscience of the world. The
rainbow
over flood-forgiven lands, a flag
unfurled
in the promised love that God bestows,
is raised half-mast today. The
troublemaker’s
dead. His lionized life sleeps at last,
having lain down with the lamb (a wolf
disguised)
and shouldered an unbearable past.
Who stands to make trouble with peace
in mind?
Who strives beyond the murk of humankind.
Not worth a new post, probably, but Joe and I talked quite a bit this week about late 'giants of history', especially in the past 50 years. Where does Mandela rank? 1st or 2nd, we determined. Based on what? Unequivocal change to human consciousness and progress in a substantially global context. Something like Time magazine's 'Man of the Year'? Something bigger than that, factoring in more of the 'test of time'. What other criteria, what balance of arts, commerce, politics, philosophy? Don't know--what do you all think?
ReplyDelete1. MLKjr
2. Mandela
3. Pope John Paul II
4. Mother Theresa
5. JFK
6. John Lennon
7. Lady Diana
8. Vaclav Havel
9. Mao Tse Tung?
10. Steve Jobs?
and this is where the list starts to get sketchy. Reagan, we argued, but also Sakharov; Eva Peron and Benezar Bhutto; Michael Jackson and Jimi Hendrix (Joe wanted Kurt Cobain); most poets are too subtle for this list--I love Seamus Heaney and Gwendolyn Brooks, but are they 'giants' for the larger part of the world? What do we do with enemies, like Osama Bin Laden? Time magazine counts them, but this list hopes for a more progressive sense of human accomplishment. What does Hendrix accomplish? unleashed stylistics. What does Lady Di accomplish? a necessary post-Marilyn Monroe debate, not to mention due causes that (ironically) tried to redirect the paparazzi flashmobs to the gritty business of landmines. What does Steve Jobs accomplish? That's a bit like Time's controversial choice to call 'you' the 'Man of the Year' if you added to the YouTube phenomenon. And on and on.
The obvious impetus is that Mandela is an anchor to this list. What are the other anchors in the past fifty years, and what are the other names you'd enter into the debate?