in my name via Flickr ( CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” ― Desmond Tutu
This came over the wires early this morning (Washington Post):
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s ebullient apostle of racial justice and reconciliation who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle against the system of White domination known as apartheid, died Dec. 26 in Cape Town. He was 90.
The cause of death was complications from cancer, according to Roger Friedman, spokesman for the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust. Archbishop Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997, and he was hospitalized on several occasions in recent years to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.
A small, effervescent man with a crooked nose and infectious toothy grin, Archbishop Tutu served as Black South Africa’s informal ambassador to the world during the dark days of repression and as a crucial voice in the campaign for racial equality that culminated with Nelson Mandela’s election as the country’s first Black president in 1994. Throughout the struggle, he preached nonviolence even while denouncing apartheid as “an evil system.”
As our own country faces what could be a period of legalized minority rule, a pair of quotes serve as reminders of what Tutu helped face down in South Africa.
“When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.” ― Desmond Tutu
“My father always used to say, “Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument.” Good sense does not always lie with the loudest shouters, nor can we say that a large, unruly crowd is always the best arbiter of what is right.” ― Desmond Tutu
The rest of this (and other) obituaries is boilerplate obituary newspapers keep on file for when they need it. It speaks of the long road Tutu trod from childhood to the clergy to opponent of apartheid to the Nobel Peace Prize, of his opposition to violence, and of his rescue in 1985 of a suspected police informer from an angry mob. The bloodied man was set to be “necklaced.” Tutu scolded attackers, reminding them of “the need to use righteous and just means for a righteous and just struggle.”
“If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.” ― Desmond Tutu
This anecdote from the Nobel ceremony stands is not to be missed:
Even during that solemn event, Archbishop Tutu couldn’t help making a joke: A Zambian boasts about his country’s minister for naval affairs to a South African, who points out disparagingly that landlocked Zambia has no navy. The Zambian replies, “Well, in South Africa you have a minister of justice, don’t you?”
This one is not too shabby either (New York Times):
Politics were inherent in his religious teachings. “We had the land, and they had the Bible,” he said in one of his parables. “Then they said, ‘Let us pray,’ and we closed our eyes. When we opened them again, they had the land and we had the Bible. Maybe we got the better end of the deal.”
Tutu once attended the same conference in Athens, Georgia as an Episcopalian minister friend. The two passed on the sidewalk. Tutu recognized him and knew his name. My friend was floored. Quiet moments of personal recognition stand out, as they did in Tutu’s life when Bishop Trevor Huddleston
… tipped his hat to Archbishop Tutu’s mother when he passed her on the street.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Archbishop Tutu once told Washington Post journalist Steven Mufson for the book “Fighting Years: Black Resistance and the Struggle for a New South Africa,” “a White man who greeted a Black working-class woman.”
That small moment altered the course of his life and inspired him to the ministry.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” ― Desmond Tutu
It’s Happy Hollandaise time here at Hullabaloo. If you’d like to drop a little something in the old Christmas stocking you can do so here: