Courage and Reality

Everyone knows the name and reputation of Nelson Mandela. Few of us know much about a perhaps even greater contemporary South African, F. W. de Klerk.

Frederik Willem de Klerk was the last President of South Africa under apartheid, and in many ways the most surprising person you might imagine to take such momentous steps. Born into a privileged Afrikaaner family, he led a charmed life that took him ultimately to the presidency. Along the way he had been a proponent of apartheid, the system of separation under which the whites maintained their pre-eminent position.

Apartheid had treated de Klerk and his family very well indeed, but F.W. was a realist. He understood that sooner or later the combination of growing black power and international sanctioning would lead to an ugly, devastating climax, the outcome of which nobody could predict except that it would be bloody and destructive. He understood that things could not remain as they were, and were either going to change uncontrollably or in a managed fashion.

De Klerk chose order over chaos and carefully began the process whereby majority rule came to South Africa and Nelson Mandela became the first black president.

Now that’s easy to say, but if you unpack that what F.W. de Klerk set in motion was essentially to turn his world upside down, to negate everything which had given him and his family meaning and status, and to launch his nation into an unknown and unpredictable future, then you understand that what he did was something of unmatched courage. In my books, at least, F.W. de Klerk is one of the heroes of history.

Perfect? Of course not. Courageous? Without question.

The important lesson in this, for all of us, is that there are times in history, whether the history of the world, or our own personal history, when we need to face up to a reality which is no longer working, and to act with courage. What F.W. de Klerk effected was not tidy, and probably in hindsight he and most other South Africans might have done things a little differently, but hindsight should never be used to critique the courage of those making hard choices.

It’s in this light that I need to think about uncomfortable realities in my own life, and in the life of my society, and wonder if I and my fellow citizens have that kind of courage to deal with reality and to give up those things which cannot be sustained. de Klerk’s wisdom and courage was grounded in an acceptance of a hard reality and the will to do what was necessary. I have to ask myself if I have that kind of wisdom and courage.