
I Am What I Am Because…
When I think about “Building a Better World,” I remember a life-changing mission to South Africa and experiencing a way of life that I had longed for and knew could be world changing. In Africa, they call it Ubuntu…. a way of life. I knew the word and had learned more about it in reading Desmond Tutu’s book: No Future Without Forgiveness. Tutu writes: “Ubuntu speaks of the very essence of being human. When we want to give high praise to someone we say, ‘Hey so and so has ubuntu.’ That means you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly, caring, compassionate: You respect others, you are unselfish; if I am in need, you share what you have. It is to understand this core belief: ‘My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours….’ It is to say: ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.”