|
 |
||||||||
|
|
|
On Thursday September 19 a small group of those who lead the Toronto media and journalism community met for an informal exchange with His Grace the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The gathering was sponsored by Images and Voices of Hope - Toronto. Gathered together in one room were seven of the senior leaders of the Canadian media, including Haroon Siddiqui, Editor Emeritus of the Toronto Star, John Cassaday, President of Corus entertainment (the largest radio station owner in Canada) and Kirk Lapointe, former Senior Vice President of CTV News. There were also two youth representatives of media and communications, two representatives of the IVOH Toronto Planning team: Isabelle Gauthier, the coordinator, and sister Gayatri Naraine of the Brahma Kumaris, as well as the international director for IVOH, Judy Rodgers. Finally, but not least, the High Commissioner for South Africa joined the group as well as the internationally renowned living image of Hope - His Grace the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. As you all know, Archbishop Tutu has done a great deal for peace in his life. His many achievements include the Nobel Peace Price in 1984 for his work in dismantling the apartheid regime in South Africa. A decade later, President Mandela asked him to head the nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And recently, he founded the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and Peace Center. This special gathering met behind close doors for a relatively short time (about an hour and half). However, this seems to have been enough to plant very powerful seeds for the future. The atmosphere in the room was open, friendly, honest and increasingly enthusiastic. The Archbishop took most of the time to answer questions and share his thoughts on what the world media community might do to elevate the vision of the world. Some of the Archbishop's remarks were: "Only God can satisfy the deep yearnings of the human heart. We are the finite made for the infinite. That is why we are always striving after goodness." "People do need hope. People need to be shown that despite all of the awfulness in the world, there is an incredible amount of good. We've overcome Nazism and apartheid. People need to understand that while South Africa is a new nation striving against the odds, it is possible for them to cohere as a nation. The bloodbath didn't happen. Even secular people said, 'it's a miracle'." If you continue scrolling down on this web page, you will find some more of the Archbishop's remarks. Very shortly, we will also post pictures and maybe a section of the video captured from the Archbishop's initial remarks. The Archbishop reflected on the role of the world media community and on the need for hope in our times. Following are some excerpts of his remarks: "I want to thank the media outside of South Africa for helping to galvanize an incredible level of support for the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. "For most of you, I suspect that your work in media is not just work, but a vocation. "You can help people achieve God's dream. You can make them aware of the importance of not hoarding, but of sharing resources with the human family. "We fear failure, but we don't revere success. People admire goodness. They admire Mother Theresa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela. "Only God can satisfy the deep yearnings of the human heart. We are the finite made for the infinite. That is why we are always striving after goodness. "People do need hope. People need to be shown that despite all of the awfulness in the world, there is an incredible amount of good. We've overcome Nazism and apartheid. People need to understand that while South Africa is a new nation striving against the odds, it is possible for them to cohere as a nation. The bloodbath didn't happen. Even secular people said, 'it's a miracle.' You helped to bring freedom to a Nelson Mandela. You just hold him up and people say, yes, the world is better for their having been a Nelson Mandela. "Sometimes during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings, we heard stories that were so remarkable, that the best response I could think of to what we were hearing was to ask for silence, saying 'we are on holy ground. We should remove our shoes.' I don't know if we tell people sufficiently, 'you are good. You were created for goodness. The aberration is the bad person'. "People find the demands of freedom so great that they have a nostalgia for being enslaved. The worst legacy of apartheid is the psychological damage. The first flight I took in Nigeria, I saw in getting on the plane that both the pilot and co-pilot were black, and I felt some satisfaction in that. Later, during the flight we hit some turbulence and I found the thoughts racing through my head saying, 'can those black guys handle this?''" When asked, "how do you personally find hope?" he responded: "As I grow older, I am amazed by the relevance of theology. In the biblical story of the Exodus, there was the ecstasy of liberation when the people were freed from slavery, but God in his wisdom did not immediately take them directly into the Promised Land. They spent forty years in the wilderness first." Early Fruits... We've also had contacts with two of the senior media people who attended
the conversation and they have expressed a strong interest to continuing with
it as thinking partners and otherwise.
|
|
|
