This is just a short story and a share of kindness.
Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013) had gone for a long time, but his idea remains. We remember Nelson Mandela as an anti-apartheid revolutionary politician and a great man. Not only in his political journey and views, but his capacity to forgive is much more powerful.
Nelson Mandela could be one of the most angry prisoners when he arrived in jail, but the sufferings of 27 years in prison had helped to purify himself and grow his magnanimity.
When Mandela went to Robeen Island, guards ordered him to dig a grave-shaped hole in the prison yard. Mandela thought it was his last day when the guards asked him to jump into the trench he had dug.
As he laid in the trench, he was not being buried or executed, but they urinated on him instead. It was just one of many humiliations and sufferings along his prison time.
Years later, when making up a list of people to invite to his inaugural dinner as the President of South Africa, Mandela invited many people he known along his political journey. But the one man he insisted on was his former jailer.
Mandela was not possessed by hatred and intention for revenge against his former political opponents, let alone imprisoning the guards who once insulted him. Mandela taught us how to avenge atrocity with kindness and to respond to hatred with love.
What will you do when you are severely injured by atrocity and injustice act? Are you going to take revenge or are you going to forgive them, moreover when you have the capability to do so?
Forgiveness cannot change what has happened in the past. But it can change your future. Indeed, forgiveness is the best gift we can give to ourselves.
If you think this story is worth reading, please share it to your family and friends. We all need forgiveness and kindness to make the world go round.
You may love this too.
Wasabee is a content editor, digital marketer and art enthusiast. He is also a jazz and bossa lover.