I have had the pleasure of exploring South Africa over the past few weeks and met some awesome chiropractors at the seminars we gave in Cape Town and Johannesburg. I wanted to express some of my observations and related opinions of this colourful and contrasting land and people.
I visited Soweto the other day and immersed myself in the journey of this young country and its numerous ‘growing pains’ over the last 150 years. There have been many justifiably aggrieved parties, most of all the blacks and coloureds. There have been numerous atrocities committed against all races and religions throughout the recent years in South Africa. There is every reason for bitterness and un-forgiveness reign but somehow I don’t think that this is the case – at least judging by the opinions of the previously segregated and victimised people that I spoke to.
A word that has crossed my bows numerous times in the last few weeks is the word Ubuntu. It is a word from the Bantu language. Bishop Desmond Tutu described it as “the essence of being human”. Ubuntu speaks about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It asserts that we are all interconnected.
This word speaks directly to us as chiropractors. Nelson Mandela addressed this concept from this position. “Ubuntu doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t have self interest” said Mandela, “but what are you going to do to enable the community around you to be able to improve?
As chiropractors our lesson in Ubuntu is that we all send out ripples from us into the wider community; our actions affect everyone, not just us. You have an effect upon everyone in your circle of influence and in fact way beyond that.
It was through, in part, the actions of Mandela and others who embraced the principles of ‘Ubuntu that South Africa got through a very ugly period of its adolescence.
This week, consider where you are ignoring the fact that you have a direct effect upon the environment around you. Review the ‘ripples’ that you are putting out there, Are they warm, expansive and prosperous or are they something less?
