Life is a Journey: Live it (Part 113)

The other autobiography
When you sit in prison, does it stop you from dreaming? Dreaming of a life in freedom? Most certainly not. On the contrary. In such a situation, you dream the maximum you can dream of, and you see no reason why you should not achieve what you dream of. Nothing and no one can stop you. Am I right?“

I saw heads nodding around me in agreement with what I said. I was very pleased to see them grasp the simple truth of life's wisdom.

Susanne Fröhlich smiled at me, coming out to say: “You mean...when we get away from what others expect from us and have confused our mind and feelings with...anything is possible?“

„God in the bible, let me all be reminded of it, said he has not brought love into the world but the sword. What does it mean to us as individuals and as societies and the world community at large?“

My students looked at each other. Everyone was scared to say the first word, which I saw as a failure, while I wanted them to speak out, as learning is not by staying mute and to yourself. I broke the silence and said, “From the holy words we learn to focus and follow God alone, not man. Whatever sets us apart from God, we must cut off; otherwise, he will use his sword and cut us off by force from destruction. While thoughts and ideas are easier to change, emotions and habits are so extremely hard to change...every smoker and alcoholic knows what I am saying. When we cut ties to other people and their ideas but rest in the love and wisdom of God, we are as free as we possibly can be. This freedom is the stage on which to stand and make the impossible possible. To live in the peace of God is for each of us when we turn to him and trust in him. My mother believed in God, yet never trusted him. This attitude caused her downfall in so many ways. In prison, all alone by ourselves, God is very near us. Just an acceptance speech away.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels did not understand that we are individuals and not a collective people, not a community of equals called humans. Their misunderstanding and misinterpretation of human life exposed the idea of communism as false, regardless of whether executed well or poorly. Yes, we are humans regardless of race and social status, but we are one person in one body with one assignment. Free to live and free to serve. The love of God is freedom. Freedom is not bondage of poverty but progress.

When God speaks of bringing us the sword, not love, he not only challenges us to love him above any other human being and things or ideas, but that fundamental changes in our world are never aligned with peace. It is very true, we hate to see people fighting other people over minerals, territories, and political supremacy. Capitalism over Socialism, and Democracy over Absolutism and alike.“

„Or the white race against the black race?“ tried Hans Wilder with a slow tone to say, hesitating to challenge the flow of my words.

„The world will always see wars among each other...even here in Europe, we cannot be certain that the peace we have in the European Union will last for eternity...as it will not, “I was quick to address an issue dear to my heart. „Hans Wilder...you refer to xenophobia in South Africa...right?“

He knotted and put down his last bite of overgrilled sausage, which had burnt. Looking at me with wide-open eyes, Hans Wilder was nearly shocked by his roasted piece of bread.

„Nelson Mandela, the moral hero of Africa and in most parts around the world, suffered for 27 years in prison on Robbin Island. Released from prison, he walked straight into the home of the Oppenheimers for a long rest. While protestors around the world had asked for his release years before again and again in marches in London, Berlin, Paris, Washington D.C., Rome, Copenhagen, Den Haag, Stockholm and Oslo, he sought the friendship...not reconciliation...but friendship with the white South African elite that were and are holding the economic power in the country in their hands.

Instead, to stay with black South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who later played a key role in the anti-apartheid movement and reconciliation with the whites to form the Rainbow Nation, Nelson Mandela had dreamt of while in prison, he preferred the immediate support of the white elite and accepted their hospitality and financial support. Nelson Mandela`s historic role was to promote moral values at large and, in particular, moral values that blacks represent in this world and have to contribute to the progress of the human race and society. By many, he was seen as a moral human conscience the world needed desperately. Other moral leaders were not around like Lenin, Fidel Castro, Kant or Plato. Gorbatshov was out of office, Germany united and drunken Russian leader Boris Jelzin paving the way for Vladimir Putin to exploit Mother Russia. In 1994, Nelson Mandela was the world's historic hero, the personality of humanity and moral values, standing untouched and loved by millions around the world. His historic mandate was not to sign up to a new constitution for South Africa or fundamentally reform the legal and economic situation of South Africa. It was his mandate not to betray the black South Africans but to make them stand as equals among equals and be respected by the whites.

The party of Nelson Mandela, the ANC, was historically mandated to ensure black South Africans live a better life in all ways, having jobs, no corruption, a very low crime rate, farm land, good health care and schooling, among so many other aspects. As the economy was in the hands of the whites, the ANC was mandated by history...and history is the love of God, let's not forget...to take away from the whites and give to the black South Africans. The transition process cannot be done from today until tomorrow. It must happen gradually. A black South African not trained to manage a farm will destroy a farm given and fall back into financial and moral poverty. That cannot be the way forward. The majority of South Africans, the black South Africans, voted again and again on the promises of the ANC, knowing their sweet words would eventually fail them. Instead of burying the ANC in the history book of South Africa as a great betrayal, the black South Africans, like a tyre with a hole, divert their frustration against legal and illegal black foreigners who go about their daily businesses to give jobs and services to black South Africans as much as to feed their families. Black South Africans march through the streets of Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, beating up black foreigners regardless of their legal status in the country or contribution to South African society. The blinded mob is angry about sixty per cent unemployment among the youth, forty-five per cent or fifty per cent overall in the country, a high crime rate, drug abuse and the like, turning their hate against the same people Nelson Mandela put into the spotlight while in prison on Robbin Island. They do not march to ANC headquarters, party offices, or the presidency to demand justice, accountability, transparency and the end of corruption, not demanding President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down from office. They target the weak and vulnerable black Africans from foreign nations. Remember...this mob has voted the ANC into power and kept the ANC in power! Now they are very, very angry.

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