Nelson Mandela: A Stoic whose governance should be remembered.

"Know thyself, nothing to excess and surety brings ruin" Quoting Nelson Mandela, "Learn to know yourself… to search realistically and regularly the processes of your own mind and feelings." Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, statesman, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election." I believe Nelson Mandela represented the very best of leadership. 

When Americans are confronted with American politicians whose greed dictates their reason, America ends divided. In part, we are divided because the individual American no longer takes the time to know thyself. Americans today allow politicians, the media, and others to tell us how we feel, who we are and why. In my last column, an attempt was made to reflect upon my own feelings and processes. I am not so sure American generations have ever given much thought to "know thyself." Past generations have focused on knowing God. In 1940 seventy-three percent of all Americans belonged to a church. Today 47% of Americans belong to a church. While church attendance declines, division in our nation through political bias has increased, so what happened? Does the lack of understanding "know thyself,” combined with a decline in church attendance, affect societies' interaction with each other? 

 Sigmond Freud had said, civilization is constantly being created anew, and everyone being born must work their way up to being civilized beings. 

To know thyself is not knowledge you are given at birth. If we are born into nontraditional families, if we are born into poverty, if we are born into predilections, if we are born into a society where low moral values dictate our reason, if we are born into a society whereby our faith in God waivers, we as a society will not obtain the education or indoctrination as to the health and well-being, of our divided society. Both his parents were illiterate, but being a devout Christian, his mother sent him to a local Methodist school when he was young. Baptized a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson." Nelson was a man of great faith. He hid his Christian faith to continue his work of unifying South Africa. Many ministers who preyed with Nelson regularly knew of his faith while in prison and throughout his life. "He was a profoundly religious man: he believed sincerely in the existence of the almighty. Nelson also understood the importance to "know thyself." 

When we reflect upon our lives, we should ask this one question. Do I know what I take myself to know? Knowing ourselves, understanding our weaknesses, and our strengths are paramount. Knowing oneself is easy when deciding what I like. Example: I like ice cream. Yet, we seem to be gullible when it comes to politics, history, science, or religion. We believe what other people say, and the individual believes without due examination. We are like a flock of sheep, ignoring our Shepard, following another off the edge of a cliff without thinking or reflecting what the lead sheep feels or knows to be true. Americans today tend to say, I think, without even considering another point of view when we disagree, we disagree with malice. This malice towards others has been taught in colleges all across America and for decades. Knowing you live an imperfect life, learning, and acknowledging your limitations is but one key to introspection. A great leader will know thyself and God. 

Nelson Mandela, a great leader, was such a man, as was Martin Luther King. They were great leaders because of their faith and not a lack thereof. In America today, we lack faith and reflective thought when selecting our leaders, and subsequently, why our leadership is so poor. We know not what good leadership looks like today; we know not better. We Americans are not blind to this truth; we are blind because we do not take the time to understand ourselves and God first. Take some time to write about yourself, your beliefs, and what you want out of life. Being honest with yourself will be the hardest part. Once you have this idea of self, like what I wrote about myself, your path is clearer. A person who knows themselves well knows how to spot characteristic ways in which others spin or otherwise distort positive and negative information. We can remove ourselves from harsh reactions towards one another; we stop believing everything we see in the media, every word spoken, every page of the internet. We begin to see the positive qualities we want and expect in our leaders. We can push our limitations and poor qualities into closets where they reside like skeletons. Knowing these skeletons may come out to dance, we have a place to put them back and try again. Believe in yourself, aim high, be forgiving, seek high moral counsel from those who are not agenda motivated. Maybe, we can start to respect each other again. The Lord knows I am trying how about you?