Keep Your Enemies Closer?
So, I am sitting here in tears and I don't know how to deal with my flood of emotions other than to write. I don't know if any of it will make sense, but I have to get it out. I have been thinking a lot about Nelson Mandela, apartheid, leadership, and how to make this world a better place. Mandela said "If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner." I have been trying to make sense of this. I feel incredibly fortunate to have known someone who lived through apartheid as a child in Pretoria, South Africa. When I was a camp counselor in college, we had multiple coworkers from a variety of countries around the world. Hoops made a massive impact on me as a 20-something white chick from the suburbs. Her unique perspective about growing up in a place where diversity was not accepted and she had to move from place to place in secret with her Mom opened my eyes to how much hate can hurt. Even though it had been ma...