Long Drive To Say Goodbye

Concerts are bit like buses, you wait for ages for one to come along and then three or four turn up at the same time. I have to say that I love live music and there is nothing to beat a live concert. But no matter how long I have had to wait for a good concert to come along, if I suddenly go to two or three I get concerted out. To a lesser extent, if I go to too many rugby matches or watch too many on the TV I can start to get ruggered out. You see no matter how much you enjoy something, no matter how interested you are in the subject, no matter how long you have waited for something, there comes a time when you have had enough, you need a break, you need to fill your life with something else.

Except that is when it comes to Madiba Magic. Following the sad death of the world icon Nelson Mandela in December 2013, I spent 5 days completely immersed in him and all things to do with him. For a start off I drove for two days from Cape Town to Pretoria in order to pay my last respects to the great man and visit him whilst he was lying in state. Then I spent a day queuing here, there and everywhere and then finally visited his house in Houghton, Johannesburg where he passed away. I then drove for two days back to Cape Town, stopping on route to visit Drakenstein Prison, out of which Nelson Mandela walked to freedom in February 1990.

I was able to hear the entire memorial service for him as it was broadcast live on the radio, I listened as world leaders and friends spoke of Madiba and who could forget the speech Barack Obama delivered. Then there was the dedicated radio channel that 24/7 pumped out programs about Madiba, with people relating stories of the day they meet him, or how its like to have worked with him, to have been in prison with him and how it was to have been touched by the Madiba magic. Whenever possible I watched the TV, which also had a dedicated 24/7 channel to Madiba. I found myself fixed to the screen watching his body being driven each day to and from his lying in state, watching him out perform everyone at the Codesa conference, listening to his dock speech at his trail, watching films of his birthplace, of his life, of interviews he had given to various TV host over the years.

So after 5 days of intensive Madiba information and activities had I had enough, did I need a break, did I feel I had to fill my life with something else. No, I wanted more and more and more. So on the night I returned home I went to watch the Madiba film, Long Walk To Freedom and still I wanted more. Now that's Madiba magic.

Some people have called Madiba a saint, press people make him out to be a god and to be honest there maybe a connection, because I think just about the only other thing people cannot seem to get enough of, is religion. Or at least those of us who partake. So maybe Madiba is a new modern religion, for a modern world, after all religion is all about guiding people through life, about setting standards, giving us codes to live by. Madiba has done exactly that, he has taught the world and shown us how to forgive, how to show compassion, how different people with different views can live side by side and to love each other. He placed great value on our children, on education particularly when it came to a truly modern problem, AID's.

All of these things are codes to live our lives by and standards we should strive to achieve, so maybe, just maybe Madiba is a truly modern religion that is fit for purpose, one that addressees todays problems. Of course unlike just about all other religions, we absolutely know that Madiba lived, we can walk on the very ground he walked, we can breath the same air, we can visit his final resting place. We absolutely know he is most definitely not a myth or a collaboration of a number of stories and legends.

Now that's Madiba Magic. Amen.