On one of our first international trips together my father and I were headed to Ireland to spend 3 weeks driving around the island, exploring as much as we could. To get there we landed at Heathrow, and transferred to a smaller airplane which would take us to Dublin.
I remember the flight being delayed by about 30 minutes, but that wasn’t much of an issue, except that we were very tired. As we boarded the flight we noticed people passing a whisper toward the back of the line, much like the “telephone game” that is used to demonstrate to young people that rumours and whispers often change as they are passed around.
The whisper “Nelson Mandela is on the plane” did not change in meaning. It was true!! As we boarded, Nelson Mandela, seated comfortably in the business class surrounded by his security people, personally greeted every passenger as though each of us was important. It was an experience that I will not be forgetting!
Mandela was on his way to officially open the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin. As dad and I travelled around Ireland, we frequently saw parade and signs indicating those games.
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Nelson Mandela (from “Mandela” Documentary, 1994)
Chance encounters often change the way we observe things. They change the way we absorb and respond to the world around us.
Reflections 