Keep Running the Legacy

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This year in South Africa we celebrated the 100th birthday of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Although he is unfortunately not with us today, he left a strong legacy that will last for many generations to come. A legacy that perpetuates the values of peace, reconciliation, inclusion, passion and freedom.

The Mandela Marathon is an annual event that was inaugurated in 2012 to honour the life and times of arguably one of South Africa's greatest ever icons.

The theme of this year's Mandela Marathon was Keep Running the Legacy.

As I participated in the event on Sunday, I was inspired to experience many aspects of this legacy in action throughout the duration of the day. 

The route of the race is challenging and there were some tough sections where I was tempted to begin walking, but my fellow comrades encouraged me to push through the pain and keep on going, symbolizing the fighting spirit that Mandela epitomized with his life.

The amount of support from the many water tables along the route was simply amazing. There were plenty of friendly faces handing out water, snacks, Vaseline and Deep Freeze along the route. This same supportive, encouraging spirit was on display from the hundreds of spectator's as well.

There was an amazing sense of Ubuntu between everyone who was involved with the event. Virtually everyone was proudly displaying their adoption of this theme: Keep Running the Legacy.

After one or two of our party had finished the race, we found a nice spot to watch our spouses and friends come in.

Everyone was cheering and singing, joint in a unified spirit of joy and accomplishment.

All of a sudden, a tall man arrived and pushed his way in front of our small group, completely obstructing our view and offering no form of apology or excuse.

Needless to say, I had some choice words in mind for this man, but in the spirit of the day, I decided to rather hold my tongue.

We did not let this unfortunate encounter ruin our day, but this silly situation reminded me that no matter how many people come together and buy into a great legacy, every individual has their own personal choice to join into the unified atmosphere or continue to live in their own selfish ways.

Let us not be blind and ignorant to the many inspiring movements around us. Let us make the choice to keep running the legacies that have been left to us by the many great leaders who have gone before us. Let us continue working together to build a South Africa that we can all be proud to call our home.

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