From Fighter to Healer

I became surprisingly emotional when I saw the Toronto Star piece written by Rabbi Emeritus Dow Murmur earlier this week on September 11th, the anniversary of the world-changing attacks in New York City, Washington DC, and on a plane which crashed in Pennsylvania. It was about Father Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest who was an activist in South Africa during the apartheid era. He became a member of the African National Congress and came to see himself as a militant freedom fighter. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2017/09/11/blast-victim-illuminates-a-path-to-healing-hatred.html

So did the South African government, and Lapsley fled first to Lesotho, then to Zimbabwe. The first time I heard Lapsley was in the late 1980's when he spoke to a group of us in Sudbury, Ontario, where I was serving in ministry. My family had been opposed to apartheid since my childhood, boycotting products from South Africa. I was fascinated by Lapsley's story. Then in 1990 he was nearly killed by a letter bomb which arrived at his home in Zimbabwe. Even though Nelson Mandela had recently been released, South African secret police continued to target "enemies of the state." The force of the blast actually lifted the roof of the house and he lost an eye and both hands.

Lapsley returned to Sudbury a couple of years later to speak again. I sat across the table from him over a meal, trying not to stare at the eye-patch, the facial scars, the prosthetic hooks where his hands had been. Twenty five years ago I was the parent of young children. I wondered how far my faith and convictions would take me for any cause other than my family.  

Today Lapsley continues to be passionate on behalf of the oppressed, yet his personal tragedy led him in a new direction :“If I were consumed by hatred, bitterness and a desire for revenge, I would be a victim forever. The oppressors would have failed to kill my body but they certainly would have killed my soul... I can be more of an example to others with my many human weaknesses than as a plaster saint who has overcome it all, free of distortions and contradictions.”

Today he works in an international enterprise committed to healing, with the goal of restoration rather than retribution. He has written a book called Redeeming the Past: My Journey from Freedom Fighter to Healer. Our paths may never cross again, but perhaps I'll read the book. I continue to admire Michael greatly and his is an inspirational story.

Thoughts?