MANDELA'S WAY

c. Choose, out of the fifteen chapters of the book, the three ones that interest you more and explain why.

The chapters 8 (Know your enemy), 9 (Keep your rivals close) and 14 (It's always both) are the ones I have enjoyed the most.

First, it is narrated how Mandela tried to understand and discover his political opponents' weaknesses. Being imprisoned, Mandela learned the language of his oppressor, the Afrikaans, and the history of the Afrikaners. He would say that on addressing an enemy, you have to go beyond the rational and, literally, "you go straight into their hearts." It was both an act of persuasion and, at the same time, he converted some enemies into his allies. The parallelism he drew, in Afrikaans, between the submission of the Afrikaner to the British during the Boer war and the apartheid in front of the South African president, P. W. Botha, was awesome and resulted in the release of Walter Sisulu. Being the first South African president elected democratically, he turned to sports, specially rugby, as way of healing the nation. He wanted to convey that South Africa would be one, that there would be justice for the black minority and that there would not be any revenge and so the white population did not have to be scared.

In second place, Mandela was said not to lose track of his opponents, even his friendly ones. He did not make a god out of loyalty. That is what happened to Mandela's relation to Bantu Holomisa and Chris Hani. They were immature and visceral. Mandela behaved as a father for them, teaching them to make decisions on the head rather than the blood. The Zulu leader Mangosuthu Butelezi is portrayed as an ally to become an enemy. Therefore, Mandela, when appointed South African president, invited him into first cabinet as minister of home affairs as he was so dangerous for Mandela that he needed to "keep an eye on him."

Last but not least, Mandela the answer to optional questions was almost always both. In a dilemma all explanations might be true. A "both" or a "maybe" is closer to the truth than a "yes" or "no". When he was released, he tried to solve a problem reconciling both sides. Sometimes it was not possible to make everyone happy. For instance, in his negotiations for the country's first government, he made compromises in order to come to an agreement, that is, a unity government with the National Party, in which F. W. de Klerk was vice president in spite of knowing that he had been a traitor to him several times. 

In all, Mandela constantly had to tolerate a lot of people who meant to do harm to him; however, he gave them back kindness and confidence. That is for most people impossible. It is an act that requires, according to Richard Stengel empathy and imagination. But the reward is something that can fairly be described as wisdom. 

 

ABOUT SOMETHING THAT REMINDED ME OF THIS WONDERFUL SCENE

Last Thursday, 8.55 p.m. When the class seemed to be ending up and some of the students were going to stand up so as to begin our extended weekend, Emilio, with a simple gesture, made us sit down again. You can see something similar to this at the beginning of this YouTube clip extracted from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.  

It appealled me how wonderfully Emilio, unconsciously, made Samuel L. Jackson's gesture. We were dying to leave, so our most sincere apologies must be presented. However, it was "Puenting Tarantino's" fault!

DURING THE EXAM PERIOD

Exams, we love them so much. Should they not exist, we would have to create them! Thank God as soon as they finish, we run away on holidays!!

At the end of the term, people are so fed up with all the school stuff that some years ago, I hanged a sheet of paper with the above inscriptions printed from the noticeboard of the staff room at my school.

I promise it was just a joke, but some colleagues spent some time hitting their head against the wall. I wondered what would have happened if I had asked them for some small change... lol

PEACE, A VID

In last week's activity, my group and I chose LACK OF RESPECT as the most serious global issue, as the one that affects the world in a sadder way, taking into consideration what it can convey in a bigger scale. We must not tolerate that some people are denigrated due to reasons namely the colour of their skin, the fact that they are women or the sexual condition.

I hope you will like both the video and the song. I know you will share this message, "Peace will come to me." May peace be with you!

IRELAND STUFF

Good evening,

To complete my presentation about Ireland, I want to include this video. You can see some boys, called "knackers", naughty boys that you can never know what they're up to, steering a shopping trolley, with a drunkard inside. A Garda (Irish police) car bumps into them and ask them to bring back the trolley - in Spain it would have been different indeed - while the boys don't seem to be even worried about the situation. The drunkard says, "I'm not going home!", which made me burst into laughter.

Unfortunately and as I said in my speech, the alcohol consumption is a real problem in Ireland. People usually have a "black celebration" in the evening, that one when you don't have anything to celebrate. Drink with moderation, it's your responsibility.

NARRATION

Et voilà...

THE FIRST IMPRESSION SELDOM MATTERS

Experience has always been considered a kind of mastery in people’s life. People may not be somehow appropriate in situations they have not faced before. Thus when the sensible become aware of a behavioural mistake, they must try not to do it again.

During my Erasmus spell, in 2003, I paid my friend Néstor a short visit in Dublin. I arrived in the city on a spring day at 5pm and Néstor, who by that time was working, had given me his address. After some time seeking the house, there I was knocking at his door and a short, dark-complexioned, East Asian man opened it. Immediately did I think, “Poor Néstor! He must be broke; he can only afford to live with a tramp.” After introducing ourselves, he struck up a conversation. His name was Shiful and was Bangladeshi. I will always remember that he was gazing at a Michael Jackson music video in which the departed singer was characterized as a statue as he exclaimed, “I want to go to this place!” I realized that he was both naïve and enthusiastic. He showed me their house, half in ruins. They shared it with some everlasting moss. I entered their filthy, two-square-metre bathroom, the only one where you could do number two, wash your hands in the washbasin and your feet in the shower at the same time! He worked for fifteen hours a day as a chef. Not only was he hard-working, but he was also vital. He stated that he would develop his profession for a period of time, in that his ideal job was to rest free from worry.

Life teaches lessons every day. “Optimistic people make us grow old happy,” would preach my grandma. I judged Shiful by his appearance. Then I got to know a person in a million. 

HALLOWEEN

Thank God Halloween ended. For the first time I have celebrated this Celt-Yank tradition. Being a child I would disguise myself under a costume, but only in Carnival. Now I remember putting on a tracksuit pretending to be Benito Floro, Real Madrid's coach in the 1990s, with his glasses and his grey hair and his annoying personality.

Halloween has never been, however, my cup of tea. Hence, the fact that I had not thought of becoming a monster creature. Life is hard, sometimes. On becoming an English teacher there is some sacrifice prior to All Saint's Day. I had always refused to be Frankenstein, but this year it all has changed. The secretary of my school went to Lidl - she doesn't know how I adore her - and purchased all the Halloween stuff the school could afford (more than the Junta de Andalucía's budget would expect, for sure). Therefore, during the weekly seminar meeting the question of Halloween was proposed. We would have to hang the ghastly creatures, pumpkins, witches silhouettes and so forth and so on. My sister's school lent us a lovely head of Fester Adams. I did disguise myself. In spite of the fact that I was reluctant. I was Scary Skeleton for 15 minutes, during which I frightened a pupil of mine, as I changed my clothes in the classroom so as not to be seen, taking advantage of the break.

I may not do it again but I have to admit that it was fun. I gave my students some sweets, but the party finished within 20 minutes. They had to sit an exam. That was horror indeed.

All in all, Halloween is a globalisation festivity imported from the USA, the country in which everything is considered perfect. That is not bad, but our sense for this day is losing its importance. In addition, amounts of money are wasted, so the balance moves to the down side.