What I Didn’t Know about Mandela; What I Learned about Bob

Already he was in top-hero status in my pantheon. 

Then the flood of publicity this week told me something I hadn't realized: When Nelson Mandela, then imprisoned, changed his strategy and began to negotiate with the white government of South Africa, his colleagues in revolution believed that he had sold out.

Which pretty much put him in the alone-and-scorned category.  Hard enough to be unjustly locked up for years on end–and for a time in solitary confinement. Seemingly beyond endurance to be thought a traitor by one's partners in the cause. Excruciating isolation!

Mandela stuck with his decision and proceeded.

Hero close to home:  On Tuesday my husband, clinical psychologist/hypnotherapist, Bob Dick, had cataract surgery using only self-hypnosis for sedation.  It wasn't fun, he said afterwards, but it went just fine.  His doctor said that Bob's handling of the procedure was about the same as the average sedated person

Bob was irked that he hadn’t done far better than someone sedated.

What have I done that's bold today, (and it's 11:13 a.m.)? One ridiculously small thing: I briefly let go of my death grip on my work and read a lengthy piece in the  New York Review about a historic courtesan. Bold? Well, yes, a little bit.  What's bold is different for everyone; and even the smallest move in that direction builds the boldness muscle and the self-trust.

 

Categories: 2013

Tags: Bob Dick, Mandela, Nelson Mandela, New York Review