When South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently announced his retirement from public life, I found myself conflicted between emotions of despairing sorrow and eager anticipation. Sorrow because Tutu’s retirement leaves a striking void in the global movement for social justice – no other current leader has so tirelessly, yet so peacefully, fought for liberty and equality of the oppressed. Anticipation because his retirement gives needed space to the emerging leaders of Africa: young, fresh leaders who have the great opportunity to guide their developing countries to an era of prosperity and peace.
To reconcile these emotions, I turned to the highlighted, edited, yet nearly forgotten printed-out pages of the blog that I wrote when I was volunteering at a mission hospital in South Africa three years ago. Although I never met Desmond Tutu, the soul-searching entries of my blog were highly influenced by his stories. Specifically, it was from the archbishop’s writings and speeches that I learned about the philosophy of ubuntu, a worldview that shaped my experiences in South Africa and continues to guide my life to this day.
A South African Worldview
In Zulu, one of the national languages of
South Africa, there is the phrase umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu; literally, a person is a person through other people. I am because you are. We affirm our own humanity when we acknowledge and accept that of others. It is a philosophy encapsulated in the word ubuntu, a word understood throughout the Bantu dialects of Southern Africa. According to ubuntu, we are all connected simply by our humanity; only by recognizing this common bond and relating to our fellow humans as equals can we discover our individual human qualities. We are whole as individuals only with the wholeness of those around us.
Ubuntu does not abolish those human qualities inherent in all of us – jealousy, greed, pride. But when we accept someone as simply another human being, all individual faults and differences taken into account, these qualities become less of a threat and far less destructive. Ubuntu allows people to be vulnerable yet confident, knowing that they belong to a greater whole. With ubuntu, an entire community mourns a death: when one person dies, a part of me dies as well. With ubuntu, we all rejoice in another’s achievement: what benefits another person may benefit me as well. With ubuntu, all that we have and all that we are rests in an eternal web of humanity.
It is this reflection on ubuntu that allows me to reconcile my sorrow and anticipation into a new emotion: hope. Hope that through the moral convictions of Desmond Tutu, future generations will continue to value his ideals of diversity, peace, and freedom. Hope that through these ideals, we will all recognize our shared humanity and connected souls.
