Globally Rational

And the answer is Nelson Mandela.  Apparently, the US was against the anti-Apartheid movement because the South African white supremacists were our friends.  After it became apparent that South Africa’s racist philosophies were bad, the world came to accept Mandela as a hero… but we still never got around to taking Mandela off the US terrorist list.  In fact, some people still think he’s a terrorist, even after the US gave him a Medal of Honor in 2003.

I think it’s interesting to consider how much things change over the years.  Sure, Mandela was a little violent during the 1960’s… but he wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the Apartheid government.  Years later, people unanimously hail him as a leader in the fight against racism and global harmony.  40 years from now, what will we be saying about some of the people who are seen as questionable today?

There are a lot of people who are generally very influential.  Some of them, such as Hitler and Milosevic, are obviously bad.  Others, such as Mandela and Jimmy Carter, are obviously good.  But what about the people who are still too fresh in our memories to make any solid conclusions (for instance, much of the current players in Pakistani politics)?  What will we think about them in the future?

I want to make a suggestion.  Before you decide that a person is evil (like we said about Mandela), think about what they do and why they do it.  It’ll tell you a lot about the person… for instance, some Pakistani politicians are motivated by greed and power struggles, while others are motivated by a true dedication to making the world a better place.  Similar things can be said about more violent figures (including people who are actually terrorists)… if we actually try to look at things from their perspective, even if we don’t agree with it, we can go much farther in our attempts to make peace.

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