Friday, December 14, 2007 at 12:12am
The courage of non-violence
Column: Executive Soul
Violence rears its ugly head in virtually all human institutions, be they nations, families or organizations of a size somewhere in between. The question for leaders is not whether they will encounter violence but how they will encounter violence. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, retired archbishop of Capetown, South Africa, has interrupted the cycle of violence on numerous occasions, both on a small scale and on a large scale.
For example, when security forces killed 38 people in Sebokeng, a black township, in 1990, when South Africa was still under apartheid, Tutu interrupted the cycle of violence. Word of the massacre came to him while he was in the midst of a meeting with his synod of bishops at a conference center in Lesotho. He left the meeting to cry and pray in the chapel, and then, feeling directed by God, returned to the bishops. Reflecting on the event later, he recounted urging the bishops to
" ... suspend our meeting, which had never happened before, and go [to Sebokeng]. And the bishops, all of them, unanimously agreed. We put aside our whole agenda, and went."
The bishops left Lesotho for Sebokeng early the next morning, celebrated the Eucharist in a local church when they arrived, and then toured the township, visiting the injured and the bereaved. While the bishops were speaking with a crowd of young people gathered in the streets, a convoy of Casspirs, armored police vehicles with tear gas and machine guns, appeared. John Cleary of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported what he observed (as recounted in Tutu's biography, "Rabble-Rouser for Peace," by John Allen):
"I heard the archbishop say, 'Let us pray.' Then the noise of the vehicles stopped. The crowd went quiet. There was no sound from the Casspirs, no sound of teargas canisters. So I looked around and there, behind me, were the Anglican bishops of Southern Africa - black, white, coloured, old, young - standing between the crowd and the Casspirs, with their arms outstretched. In that moment, I understood a little about what the Christian vision for a new South Africa cost people. I'd never witnessed that sort of courage before."
The Anglican bishops of Southern Africa succeeded in interrupting the cycle of violence before it escalated even further in Sebokeng township. Through their courage, they overcame violence with love.
— — —
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. © Copyright 2007 by Margaret Benefiel.
For example, when security forces killed 38 people in Sebokeng, a black township, in 1990, when South Africa was still under apartheid, Tutu interrupted the cycle of violence. Word of the massacre came to him while he was in the midst of a meeting with his synod of bishops at a conference center in Lesotho. He left the meeting to cry and pray in the chapel, and then, feeling directed by God, returned to the bishops. Reflecting on the event later, he recounted urging the bishops to
" ... suspend our meeting, which had never happened before, and go [to Sebokeng]. And the bishops, all of them, unanimously agreed. We put aside our whole agenda, and went."
The bishops left Lesotho for Sebokeng early the next morning, celebrated the Eucharist in a local church when they arrived, and then toured the township, visiting the injured and the bereaved. While the bishops were speaking with a crowd of young people gathered in the streets, a convoy of Casspirs, armored police vehicles with tear gas and machine guns, appeared. John Cleary of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported what he observed (as recounted in Tutu's biography, "Rabble-Rouser for Peace," by John Allen):
"I heard the archbishop say, 'Let us pray.' Then the noise of the vehicles stopped. The crowd went quiet. There was no sound from the Casspirs, no sound of teargas canisters. So I looked around and there, behind me, were the Anglican bishops of Southern Africa - black, white, coloured, old, young - standing between the crowd and the Casspirs, with their arms outstretched. In that moment, I understood a little about what the Christian vision for a new South Africa cost people. I'd never witnessed that sort of courage before."
The Anglican bishops of Southern Africa succeeded in interrupting the cycle of violence before it escalated even further in Sebokeng township. Through their courage, they overcame violence with love.
— — —
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. © Copyright 2007 by Margaret Benefiel.