De geestelijke Desmond Tutu (1931 – 2021) was een sleutelfiguur tijdens de anti-apartheidsbeweging in Zuid-Afrika. Daarnaast heeft hij zich hard gemaakt voor menselijke ontwikkeling wereldwijd.
Desmond Tutu ontving op 16 oktober 1984 de Nobelprijs voor de Vrede voor zijn inspanningen in de strijd tegen apartheid. Na de val van het apartheidsregime benoemde Nelson Mandela hem tot voorzitter van de Waarheids- en Verzoeningscommissie, die ernaar streefde de verschillende bevolkingsgroepen in Zuid-Afrika in vrede met elkaar te laten leven.
Een man van vrede, vergeving en verzoening
Desmond Tutu was een krachtige stem van rede tegen armoede, racisme, vreemdelingenhaat en corruptie. En een toonbeeld van vrede, vergeving, verzoening en medemenselijkheid. Gedurende zijn leven heeft hij zich niet alleen hard gemaakt voor mensenrechten en gelijkheid van mensen in Zuid-Afrika, maar ook daarbuiten.
Hij was écht een man van woorden en daden. Met zijn uitstekende communicatieve vaardigheden, gevoel voor humor en aanstekelijke lach wist hij mensen wereldwijd te raken.
13 quotes van Desmond Tutu
- “Bringing people together is what I call ‘ubuntu’ which means ‘I am because we are’. Far too often people think of themselves as just individuals separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”
- “If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.”
- “Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.”
- “We are each made for goodness, love, and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths.”
- “We are all connected. What unites us is our common humanity. I don’t want to oversimplify things – but the suffering of a mother who has lost her child is not dependent on her nationality, ethnicity, or religion. White, black, rich, poor, Christian, Muslim or Jew – pain is pain – joy is joy.”
- “I can’t control what happens to me, but I can control how I respond to it.”
- “We can be human only together. A person is a person to other persons. We so desperately long for all of us to learn that we are meant for one another. We are meant for complementarity.”
- “Suffering is part and parcel of the human condition, but suffering can either embitter or ennoble us. It can ennoble us and become a spirituality of transformation when we find meaning in it.”
- “We have a planet that is at risk, where resources don’t have permanent life. We are going to have to make the decision: are we going to survive or are we waiting for our extinction? One day we will wake up and find people are fighting not for oil but water.”
- “All of us experience fear, but when we confront and acknowledge it, we are able to turn it into courage. Being courageous does not mean never being scared; it means acting as you know you must even though you are undeniably afraid.”
- “Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.”
- “This is a moral universe, which means that despite all the evidence that seems to be to the contrary, there is no way that evil and injustice and oppression and lies can have the last word. That is what has upheld the morale of our people, to know that in the end good will prevail.”
- “Dream. Dream. And then go for it!”
Meer lezen
- Maya Angelou: dertien inspirerende quotes.
- Zes inspirerende quotes van schrijver Paolo Cognetti.
- Elf inspirerende quotes van Nelson Mandela.
- Vijf quotes van Michelle Obama.
Tekst Eunice Frijde