Johannesburg — DESMOND Tutu is a global treasure. So, his decision to stand down from public life will leave this country - and the world - a chillier place.
The story of the archbishop's rise from his birth place, Krugersdorp, to the most senior position in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, is inspirational. But, it his use of impish humour and raw courage against dark forces that is the stuff of legend.
And, to hone an already sharp point, it is salutary to remember that this happened before he received the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. All that has come afterwards - the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism (1986), the Sydney Peace Prize (1999), the Gandhi Peace Prize (2005) and the US Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009) - have been received with modesty and self-effacement.
At home, as the world knows, Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, SA's brave attempt to open the deep wounds of our brutal past. His unashamed passion, which was caught in poet Ingrid de Kok's famous line - The Archbishop "put his grey head/ on the long table/ of papers and protocols/ and he wept" - moved all but the most unrepentant.
Relevant Links
And, in these past months, as our triangular six-coloured flag has once again flown in every possible corner - and on every passing car - Tutu's non racial challenge that we are the Rainbow Nation, as he famously called SA, has been set before us for the second time.
What has driven Tutu's life journey and his social mission? Only he can say, of course.
But what will biographers say of this convivial and gregarious man whose life, ironically, was nearly arrested by that most social of all diseases, tuberculosis?
It is, however, certain that not far from the centre of biographers' thoughts will be the credo of a religious grouping that is at some distance from Tutu's Episcopalian roots - this is the Quaker challenge to "speak truth to power". In Tutu's world, none were spared his own brand of plain speech. So, in 1984, he told a committee of the US Congress that he would no longer receive US emissaries because he objected to their policy of constructive engagement towards SA.
Shrewdly, he went on to declare that he would only talk to that country's president. The statement created a political storm and curiously, just three days later, the White House found the space in Ronald Reagan's schedule, which allowed the two men to meet.
It was not a happy occasion. As Tutu explained afterwards: "We are no nearer to each other than before I entered the White House." By then, however, he had achieved his goal: he had accessed the most powerful office in the free world in order to speak the Quakers' famous truth.
In the new SA, ever straight as an arrow, he spoke the truth to his most venerated friend, Nelson Mandela, and continued to speak out about global poverty, the plight of women, Burma, Tibet, global warming - the list of his interests and concerns is endless.
Last week, when I heard of the archbishop's decision to retire, a Chinese folk tale I'd once read came to me. It bears repeating.
An aged man married a young bride and for a few years their home was filled with healthy children and much happiness. Then, quite unexpectedly, the wife began to cry uncontrollably - this continued for many months. Understandably, the husband was distraught.
"Are you not happy in this house?" he asked her. "No, I am very happy here," she said. "Are you not happy with our other possessions?" he asked. "No, I am very happy with them." "Are you not happy with our children?" "No, I love our children."
"Then, please tell me what is wrong with you. Why do you sob in this manner?" She replied, "I weep because I wish I had known you when you were a younger man."
As we celebrate a career of loving service to this country and the world, I cannot help but think how different our story might have been if this wonderfully meddlesome priest had been allowed to creep into the hearts of South Africans when the country was much younger.
Peter Vale is Nelson Mandela Professor of Politics at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
Comments Post a comment