RIP Nelson Mandela

[Larry L.]

Mark's comment brings to mind a story you all may find amusing. Many years ago (1994) I was part of a medical mission to Gaza to perform plastic surgery, mostly on children with facial defects and burn wounds, that sort of thing. The leader of the mission, and of the foundation that did these trips, William Magee, is a plastic surgeon and a very idealistic sort of fellow. And, as you can imagine, there was a lot of political speech thrown about by everyone. Anyway, one day we're all making round on the wards, seeing the patients that had already had surgery, and I'm standing in the back of the group with Bob Rubin, another team member, who was an anesthesiologist from (I think) UCLA. And Magee is up front spouting off about how if all the people from Hamas and Arafat's party and the Israelis could all just stop fighting long enough to come to the hospital and walk on round with us, they would just give up their guns and their bombs and their rocks and agree to work together for everyone's benefit. Etc etc.

And Bob Rubin turned to me, with this completely serious look on his face, totally deadpan, and said "what do you think of that idea, Jim?"

And I said, "I'll tell you what I think of that idea. I think if all those people are known to be in one place at one time, some crazy fucker is going to hit the hospital with a fucking missile, and I have no intention of being anywhere NEAR here when it hits. Someplace out there are a lot of people who could not resist that temptation, and I don't want them to knock me off along with everyone else."

And Rubin said, "you know, that's kind of what I think, too....."

EGG-dadgum-ZACKLY.

 

[Keith]

Back to oppression then? What I meant was the populace showed an affinity towards Mandela and it was that alone that kept a lid on tensions in SA , who will fill his boots?

Bob

That wasn't actually a joke. The repressive Police apparatus was never dismantled and is continuing to field 'death squads' on behalf of interested parties.

Look at the handling of the quite recent miners strike for example.

South Africa is a 'work in progress' and in my opinion will continue to be for many years. I just hope it doesn't get ugly, although I doubt the township residents will notice any difference.

 

[Keith]

Hey Bob. NSFW. Rule 1 mate.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

I couldn't agree more, Keith. As huge a presence as Mandela was, the vacuum left behind by his death is even more huge. None of his children or his living associates are worth much as leaders or examples. A work in progress is exactly right.

Mandela had a number of notable qualities, and perhaps the foremost of those was patience. None of the current actors in the South African drama seem to be capable of thinking on the time scale that he was able to see. It's hard to know whether their country will actually progress, or continue to muddle along in its present state.