Reason #285: Fear = Absence of Purpose
Recently watched the movie Invictus. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It is one of those inspirational movies that Hollywood doesn’t make that often, but when they do it proves why movies can matter. The story is of Nelson Mandela and his ascension from 27 years as a political prisoner on Robben Island to the presidency of South Africa and end to apartheid. Well, in actuality, his being elected president didn’t end it. In the minds of white and black South Africans, it surely still existed. Just as deep-seated prejudice still exists in the U.S., despite the election of the first African-American as president of that country. In the movie, Mandela uses sport, specifically Rugby, to overcome the fear and separation that was evident in the attitudes of blacks and whites. He integrates his own security detail in an attempt to directly confront that fear and anxiety. Mandela was driven by purpose and therefore was without fear, while all around him fear of an uncertain future racked his nation. His attempt to use the uniting force of sports to overcome those fears actually worked, at least in the movie, which does mirror real life events (Mandela really did present the championship trophy to Francois Pienaar when the Springboks won against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup). What struck me about Mandela, played by the great black actor Morgan Freeman, more than anything else was his fearlessness. His ability to walk out in front of a crowd of thousands who hated him and would rather see him dead, wearing a smile of reconciliation towards those whose hatred kept him imprisoned for the better part of three decades. How? I think it comes down mainly to one word…purpose. Those without purpose in life go through the gyrations of their daily existence floundering and fearful. They have no idea what they want so the wind blows them whereever it may and every little twist of fate is magnified to imponderable proportions. In the movie Mandela recites the poem Invictus, which was also chosen as the title of the flick. I have cited below the poem by William Ernest Henley. Read it and you can see why Mandela clung to it as a constant reaffirmation of purpose during his darkest days in Robben Island prison.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Tags: Invictus, Nelson Mandela