{"id":116592,"date":"2013-12-11T02:30:36","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T21:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=116592"},"modified":"2013-12-17T12:29:59","modified_gmt":"2013-12-17T06:59:59","slug":"the-long-walk-never-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-long-walk-never-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Walk Never Ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

The world\u2019s most respected and loved elder statesman has passed on.\u00a0 Nelson Mandela<\/span><\/a> for reasons that do not require elaboration was the one and only person who deserved the epithet \u2018Global Citizen\u2019; he did not belong to South Africa alone, he belonged to every continent, every country.\u00a0 He was grandfather, father and brother to the entire global family.<\/p>\n

The entire world mourns today.\u00a0 The condolences of the powerful, naturally, make the \u2018visible afterword\u2019 of this most distressing piece of news.\u00a0 Perhaps it is as much a comment on hypocrisy as the stature of the man that today his former detractors are falling over each other in eulogizing Mandela.\u00a0 Nations whose capitols fly national flags at half-mast would do well to reflect on the \u2018national positions\u2019 taken on Mandela not too long ago.\u00a0 That is another story. For later.\u00a0 What is important is that even when they are disingenuous, they have to tell the truth.<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama<\/span><\/a>, for example, got it right when he said that Mandela was \u2018influential, courageous and profoundly good\u2019.\u00a0 It is the \u2018profoundly good\u2019 element that stands out because it is a rare commodity among politicians, which is why the world is poor in its endowment of statesmen.<\/p>\n

A Sri Lankan octogenarian who has spent many years in Zimbabwe notes that his goodness \u2018allowed him to persuade the black majority to stretch out their hands in reconciliation to the white minority and this was his greatest victory\u2019.<\/p>\n

Mandela chose to walk a long road where destination was known but the distance to \u2018end\u2019 was not.\u00a0 As often happens, when destination was reached it was found that other destinations beckon and that there is more walking to be done.\u00a0 Mandela walked.\u00a0 All his life.\u00a0 This is why, today as the world remembers Nelson Mandela, all countries and communities would do well to reflect deep on destinations, distances and walking, especially those collectives that are embroiled in conflict or who find it hard to bury the suspicion and anger that precipitated and sustained conflagration in the first place.<\/p>\n

The great man observed, \u2018No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.\u2019<\/p>\n

Love is a non-factor when it comes to certain processes in which conflict is inherent; capitalism, for example.\u00a0 We would need more than a Mandellian approach to resolve the depravations, violence and destruction of that particular .global phenomenon.\u00a0\u00a0 When it comes to inter-communal conflict, however, Mandela in word and deed showed the world a pathway to a destination where co-existence and harmony are possible.<\/p>\n

The one thing that counts in the matter of love and loving is that they are not predicated on the guarantee of being loved in return.\u00a0\u00a0 One does not have to be loved back to love.\u00a0 Mandela did not ask \u2018Do you love me?\u2019 before declaring \u2018I love you\u2019.<\/p>\n

The world can learn.\u00a0 Sri Lanka can too.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Long Walk Never Ends - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-long-walk-never-ends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Long Walk Never Ends - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-long-walk-never-ends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-10T21:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-17T06:59:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-long-walk-never-ends\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-long-walk-never-ends\/\",\"name\":\"The Long Walk Never Ends - 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