Ubuntu!

There is a saying in isiXhosa the language of the Xhosa people of South Africa. Translated loosely it says, “People are people because of other people.” We are inter-connected. This isn’t new age thought. We have a responsibility to the rest of the human race. What we do affects others as they affect others. It’s pay it forward thinking, but as a believer in Jesus, I think it’s His thinking. Jesus understood something that we so often fail to grasp. What he did, no matter how seemingly small had an effect. Why? The reason being, with God, there are no mere coincidences but rather co incidences. Everything. Every step .. every person we meet. He knows… he wove into his plan. If you are meeting somebody… God wanted you to meet them in order that you could have some kind of impact in their lives. Wow! What power. What a release. What responsibility. We are called as believers to live Ubuntu. To live as though we have an affect on other people.

I just watched a movie called, “In my country.” The most powerful scene in the movie, the scene that had me in tears was all about Ubuntu. The movie is about the truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa just after the end of apartheid. This little boy stood and watched as a white Police officer slaughtered both his parents before his eyes. The white cop realizing his evil breaks down in the session in front of the little boy.. He gets down on his knees before him and says, “I’ll do anything… I’ll put him through school, I’ll look after him. I’m so sorry.” He breaks down in tears before the child. This 7 year old little boy who hasn’t spoken since the murder of his parents says nothing. He just stands up before the knelt white man and throws his arms around his neck. Whoa, that scene cut me up. This child understood so well the power that people have in influencing others lives. Even to the point of exercising forgiveness for the most atrocious of crimes against his family. Look around you… see how connected you actually are to everyone. How can you make an impact in somebody’s life… no matter how small? There are no limits… we have so much power to make a difference we just have to have the spiritual balls to do it. That means getting off of our comfortable rear ends. Turning off the TV and making a choice.