The Green Jersey, When Courage is a choice!

Would you invite someone who tried to kill you to lunch?

Would you invite someone who was your prison guard to a ceremony?

He did...

Nelson Mandela extended an invitation to the prosecutor who had sought the death penalty—ultimately leading to his life sentence with hard labor—for a private lunch.

Additionally, he invited his former prison guard from Robben Island Prison to attend his presidential inauguration as a gesture of reconciliation and unity.

That was only the beginning!

In South Africa, Rugby was traditionally associated with the white elite and much hated by the black majority, for whom the national team’s green jersey symbolized oppression and division.

However, in the Rugby World Cup Final match in 1995, Mandela created a great statement by wearing a green springboks jersey at that event.

He presented the trophy in that green jersey to say hatred and enmity are over in this country.

And all the stadium began chanting" Nelson, Nelson, Nelson"

“In no way...you shall change the past but forgiveness makes you change the future.” Mandela Said...

I sought a word that could truly capture what Mandela did for his adversaries. Yet, "forgiveness" felt far too insufficient to encompass the depth of his actions.

Turning to the thesaurus, I found nearly 30 synonyms—amnesty, clemency, pardon, tolerance—and examined each carefully. Still, even if I combined them all, they would barely begin to describe the greatness of his spirit.

Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting someone else to get sick.

Withholding forgiveness from people who have hurt you doesn’t harm them. It harms you.

Normally, we build walls inside ourselves made up of anger, resentment, bitterness and hate to act as a defense towards those who hurt us...

In doing so, we think we are protecting ourselves. To some extent, this may be true. You are protecting yourself from being hurt by the same person in the same way. But at what price? Is the new pain, created by the walls you’ve erected, even more damaging than the pain someone else caused?

Moreover, we are losing power to the person whom we hate and we leave conditions in his favor every time we interact with him or her...

And it is crucial also to know that forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting, forgiveness implies being equipped with tools that won't make you fall in the same issue again...

But what does it take to have amnesty and forgiveness towards others?

It takes courage...

Courage gives us confidence and equips us for future challenges. When we demonstrate courage, we build bridges instead of walls...

Courage is not absence of fear. Courage is conquering your fear...Mandela Said...

How many times you were in a meeting and you ought to say a word and regretted not saying it... or someone else said it and get the credit?

How many times you were negotiating with a customer and you went out feeling defeated because you didn't say it?

How many times you missed an opportunity because your competitor was dare enough to say I am here?

Courage might make your name eternal.

If you are interested in Biology, they named a woodpecker after him; they named a whole species family Nelsonmandelai...

If you are interested in Physics, A nuclear particle was named Mandela particle...

His birthday on July the 18th was announced by the United Nations as Mandela day...

695 awards including a Nobel prize in peace...

“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul"

This is the poetry of William Ernest Henley that Mandela chanted every day to his prison mates urging them never to surrender and never to give up...

Did Mandela do it for himself or because it was the right thing to do?

Sampson quoted -one of Mandela’s closest colleagues as once telling him: “I never know whether I’m dealing with a saint or with a Machiavelli.”

Always Have the courage to wear your green Jersey and remember that it's a trait of the strong not the week...

Sherif.