Listening to Obama eulogize Nelson Mandela, I thought about what an extraordinary man Mandela was. It’s a common theme this week. For me, I’m struck by his commitment to love and forgiveness. Its quite a man who’s able to forgive his jailers and oppressors, and try to convince an entire country to do the same. Love. In the wake of our loss of Nelson Mandela I’ve been thinking about how powerful, how amazingly revolutionary love can be. Not just for our personal relationships but also as a strategy in our work towards social justice and equality.
Then, as if by serendipity, I read this from The Last Word on Nothing in an article about a prototype incubator for premie babies:
But when Chen began her field studies of the technology in action, she found that doctors had thousands of patients and couldn’t spare the time to ensure the bags were being used correctly. The people to reach, realized Chen, were the mothers. Love was a great motivator for compliance. (Italics mine)
Love is a great motivator.
Movements and Moments 