Nelson Mandela’s Health – “Serious This Time…”

6-47am

I woke up this morning with Madiba on my mind. It was the first thing I thought, “I wonder how he is?” On turning on the news, there was no new information on him. This is the third time he’s been admitted to hospital in recent months, but somehow, the tone of Mac Maharaj the Presidential spokesman, has been more serious. Even what he was saying, reading between the lines, has been of a more grave nature – ‘he is conscious and breathing on his own.’ This implies that there was a possibility that he wasn’t awake and that he may have needed to be on a respirator! Next month, Madiba turns 95. Somehow, the idea of putting a man of such advanced old age on a respirator defies logic. Are we ever going to let him go?  I look at my mother-in-law – aka Granny – and the number of times, in her frail state, she has indicated she would love to ‘not wake up.’ She is tired. The quality of her life is very low. She doesn’t want to be here any more, preferring to move onto eternity, where God has got something so much better for her. I am sure that Nelson Mandela probably feels the same way.  When he was placed in front of the media’s cameras not so long ago, he looked blank and unresponsive. I’ve seen Granny just like that. “Smile, Granny, ” I would urge, about to take a photo of her. She would stare back at me, seemingly not fully understanding my request. I saw a glimpse of that lack of expression in the images of Madiba when they were released. He seemed to not understand what was going on or what was expected of him. What a shame that his frailty had to be displayed across the screens of the world’s media. He deserves more than this. He deserves to be left in peace…. left to be kept comfortable, surrounded by people he loves and can trust and not those that are just after his name or reputation or the millions he leaves behind.

We, the public, are at least getting used to the idea that one day he will die. On his parting, I like to think this great South African icon may want to quote something  another great man, King David said on his deathbed. He  was recorded to have written: “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him…” (1 Kings 2:2-3)

Pray for Madiba, that one way or the other, his suffering will end.

God bless you!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂