I was watching a great movie last night, "Invictus" with Rob. At first glance it is a rugby movie based in South Africa for the World Cup in 1995. Rob loves rugby so no surprise that he chose it. However rugby is really just the canvas on which a far more interesting and complex story about leadership through change takes place.
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I loved the messages so much I will be showing it to my boys (4 and 7) when we next have a movie evening with them. They love sport too, so I hope they find it packaged in a good format for them to enjoy as well as be inspired by.
Invictus is the name of the poem by William Ernest Henley that gave Mandela inspiration when he was at his lowest in prison on Robbin Island. In the movie, and I believe in reality, he shared the poem with Pienaar to assist him inspire the team that at the time was a potent symbol of Afrikaaner pride and the racism that put Mandela in gaol. Personal leadership in action.
Hopefully you will never personally understand the depths to which Mandela understood some of the darker lines of this peom. I have had a pretty blessed life and cannot really conceive of the horrors and fear that his politics and leadership put him in. However anyone who really extends themselves towards their limit, whether in sport, in politics or any other field, knows you are taking on risks and challenges to do so. Whatever difficult situation you may find yourself in, the final two lines are the potent ones, you are the master of your fate (don't blame others) and you are the captain of your soul. Here it is.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,A bientot (see you soon)
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
C
I really enjoyed reading your blog Christine, the concept of anything but ordinary really resonates with me.
ReplyDeleteI had an older friend at Uni once write in a card to me ... “there are people who take the high road and people who take the low road but I can always rely on you to be in the middle with a machete making your own road.”
At the time I thought it was reference to me never choosing the easy route and making life unnecessarily hard, but I now think it was more reflective of my need to not live an ordinary life.
As a post script my mum gave me a copy of the DVD for Christmas ... thought I might like the take home message!
Take care and love to the boys
S x
Hi S
ReplyDeleteEnjoy! It is a great movie.
I like your friends thoughts re machete paths. Interesting. Sometimes I really feel that way. I wonder if I make the journey unneccessarily hard. Especially some days here where the kids are finding it tough as the path we have chosen is for all of us as our journey is a shared one. On those days I try and slow down and look around for options that may be better rather than do what can be easier for me which is just keep the head down, duck the branches and keep on plowing through.
I like skiing analogies just now. I have likening it to piste and off piste skiing as I have been thinking about it today. The piste is great for getting from one place to another quickly and easily or to enjoy with friends or the boys where simple, open terrain provides all the fun they need and want. For Rob and I though we prefer the additional freedom of off piste terrain. That freedom requires a lot more preparation, mental and physical challenge and occassional ducking fast as no machete in hand through the trees :-) The joy is more intense and personal though, as we take more ownership of our experience. As reminded during our avalanche course last week and through another incident in the Alps this week, it does come at higher risk so more skill, better personal decisioning and risk tolerance needed too. Some days the best decision is heading back to the piste or not heading out in the first place.
All the best for a great 2011 and enjoy all of your journey, whether on a well signed freeway enjoying the speed or needing an tranceiver, probe and shovel!
Lv Cx