Invictus (movie version)

At various points in the movie:

Mandela:  "Forgiveness liberates the soul.   It removes fear.  That is why it is such a powerful weapon."

Mandela:  "On Robben Island in Pollsmoor Prison, all of my jailers were Afrikaners.  For 27 years, I studied them.  I learned their language, read their books, their poetry.  I had to know my enemy before I could prevail against them.  And we did prevail, did we not?  All of us here, we prevailed.  Our enemy is no longer the Afrikaner.  They are our fellow South Africans, our partners in a democracy.  And they treasure Springbok rugby.  If we take that away, we lose them.  We prove that we are what they feared we would be.  We have to be better than that.  We have to surprise them with compassion, with restraint and generosity.  I know all of the things they denied us.  But this is no time to celebrate petty revenge.  This is the time to build our nation using every single brick available to us.  Even if that brick comes wrapped in green and gold."

Francois Pienaar:  (talking about Mandela) "I was thinking about how he spent 30 years in a tiny cell and came out ready to forgive the people who put him in." 

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I watched this movie today while waiting for Drew at practices; and I'm glad they made it because I might have missed this great story.  It fits right in with my recent posts.  

I'm learning that forgiveness does indeed liberate the soul, especially the closer you get to complete and total forgiveness.  I would love to reach that point and stay there.

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But I probably would not have logged this post so quickly -- and, when I did get around to it, I may have only included the first quote above -- had it not been for the final scenes.

After the Springboks win the World Cup, the result of a mighty struggle, Mandela meets Pienaar on stage.  They shake hands.  Mandela says,

Francois, thank you for all you have done for Africa.

And Pienaar replies,

No, Mr. President, thank you for all you have done. 

Mandela then presents the trophy to the athlete, and he lifts it to the crowd of fans who resound with joy.  More than a standing ovation.  With an outpouring of genuine joy.

The parallels to eternity are clear enough, in my mind.  I choose to believe that is what awaits.

And I believe it will be easy to give that trophy back to the One who taught us how to love one another.

The One who showed us how to forgive.