Let’s drop the labels and do the work, and be mindful of our actions

‘We should face truths about selfishness and hegemony, the terrier-insistence of class, the headiness of material gain and physical comfort. Then, becoming mindful of truths that need to be readjusted,’ writes Alex Tabisher. Picture: David Ritchie/African News Agency/ANA

‘We should face truths about selfishness and hegemony, the terrier-insistence of class, the headiness of material gain and physical comfort. Then, becoming mindful of truths that need to be readjusted,’ writes Alex Tabisher. Picture: David Ritchie/African News Agency/ANA

Published Jul 20, 2022

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Nelson Mandela’s birthday was declared by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) as Nelson Mandela International Day in 2010.

The celebration of the international day recognises and gives credence to the former president’s commitment to human rights, conflict resolution and reconciliation.

I wish to engage with that extract within the context of what I would call “mindfulness”. I shall also refer to Professor Sipho Seepe’s brilliant essay in the Sunday Argus of July 17.

Often, required terminology, touted as evidence of expertise, is no more than a convenient obeisance that quickly dissipates in the presence of the other many matters that constitute our consciousness and demands our attention.

We should relax the parameters of the definitions to allow the mind and soul the space it will require as we gain understanding.

An analogy between the pictures supplied by the once-spectacular Hubble Telescope and those from the latest James Webb Space Telescope probe would be an exemplar of what I am trying to suggest.

Let us drop the labels and do the work. Mindfulness is, to me, a desirable attribute that anyone can adopt. Before I explain and define, allow me to remind my respected reader how stultified we become about essential matters through familiarity or the pressure of other demands.

Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment through a gentle, nurturing lens.

It includes the practice of patience, non-judging, receptiveness to the new, trust, non-striving, letting go. This is not as esoteric as it sounds. As an example, think of your favourite food.

As you become used to having it, the glory fades. Mindfulness reminds you to remind yourself now and again of the thrill of the first encounter. It’s a form of renewal.

When you relive the life of Madiba, or recall the sacrifices of our parents and teachers, or share the joy of a grandchild’s wet kiss on your cheek, you are on your way.

Mandela Day is not about public-spirited recognition in acts which go away the same way celebrations of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and birthdays do. Mindfulness forces us to stop, frequently and constantly, to examine what we do and why we do it.

As the professor says so eloquently: “As we celebrate Mandela Day, Africa’s children are in the dark. And his party, the ANC, is an embarrassing shadow of itself.”

Mandela lived, and was prepared to die, for the principle of equality.

His ideal was not an amalgam of comfortable agreement, but a place in the sun that shines on all of Africa and those who live there.

Sadly, a small proportion of ANC stalwarts have sold out to their erstwhile oppressors. Madiba ironically stated that equality for all people, all races, was something he lived for and something for which he was prepared to die. It was almost as if he was challenging the judge to hang him at the Rivonia inquisition.

We need to know that race is a fact of life. We need to know that the knot of white supremacy and the concomitant assumptions about Black inferiority was not an invention of Madiba’s time.

History will tell us about voyages of discovery (conquest and dehumanisation) and slavery, surely the worst blight on the character of humanity.

We must take the debate away from categories, labels, transitory celebrations. We should face truths about selfishness and hegemony, the terrier-insistence of class, the headiness of material gain and physical comfort. Then, becoming mindful of truths that need to be readjusted, and laws that need to amended, we will drop the tendency to name, blame and shame and start within through our own introspection for every waking moment.

Coincidentally, and ironically, it took 30 years of accumulated dung in the Augean stables to galvanise Hercules into washing it clean by diverting the river Alpheus through them. Can we sack the slackers, find a Hercules, and achieve the same renewal and cleansing?

After all, we are the voters, aren’t we?

* Literally Yours is a weekly column from Cape Argus reader Alex Tabisher. He can be contacted on email by [email protected]

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.

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