Maravi

Our lessons from Levy's life, death

Our lessons from Levy's life, death
By Editor
Thursday August 21, 2008 [04:00]

President Levy Mwanawasa’s sacrifice is unmistakable. When one looks at his life, he could have chosen easier paths and more comfortable avenues in the management of national affairs. Like any of us who desire comfort and ease, Levy could have chosen the path of least resistance. He could have easily muffled his message and made it easier for him to be likeable, to be popular. He chose the difficult way of the truth.

Don’t misunderstand us. We are not for one moment saying Levy was a saint who had no faults. He was human just like all of us. And being human like any of us, he made mistakes. Levy also had opportunities to make choices like all of us. And it is this point that we are making.

Levy made choices. And the lesson from his choices is that he did not always make the easiest choices. He resisted populism to the point of risking his own political and personal standing. He was prepared to make the unpopular decision if he believed it was right to do so.

As President, Levy was prepared to be judged by posterity. It is now left to us to judge him fairly. He is not here to defend himself. But those of us who can master objectivity should marshal it now and weigh his legacy fairly. What has been his contribution? What choices did he make? What were his aspirations? And what were his fears?

From Levy, we understood a connection between opportunity, choice and commitment. We say this because having got his opportunity and became the President of our country, Levy could have continued the corruption of his predecessor and sponsor, Frederick Chiluba, and amassed wealth.

But Levy had a hatred for corruption, theft, plunder and abuse of office which led to a choice and a commitment.

Given an opportunity, most of us can achieve what we want. But of importance is what you do with that opportunity, that is the type of choices you make and the commitment to transformation of society – not just yourself. Levy’s life teaches us about opportunity, choices and commitment to transforming society to the benefit of the people, especially the poor.

This is the choice Chiluba missed, could not make. Given the opportunity to become president, Chiluba chose to transform himself, enrich himself by stealing from his people, by abusing his office. There is a lot Chiluba could have achieved – probably even far more than Levy has achieved – if he had chosen to be honest.

From this, we appreciate that it is not genius, nor glory, nor even love which truly reflects the human soul – it is honesty, it is kindness.

Millions of people, touched by the humanity, honesty and kindness of Levy, will forever cherish him in their hearts.

There is an old Rabbinic teaching, a beautiful one, that just before a person dies, an angel comes to him from Heaven and asks the vital question:

“Tell me, is the world a better place because of your life which is about to end? Is the world a better place because of the efforts you exerted? Is the world a better place because you were around?”

For Levy, we give the answer Yes, a resounding Yes. The world is a better place, thanks to you, Levy, and your remarkable life.

And we are not the only ones who see Levy’s life in this way. Since Tuesday, many messages and statements of condolences have been pouring in and they are all saying the same thing about Levy.

Kenneth Kaunda is saying the same thing about Levy. George W Bush, the President of the United States, is saying the same thing. Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State, is saying the same thing. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is saying the same thing, among many others.

They are all extolling Levy’s virtues, his incorruptible spirit, his sense of justice, his honesty. Even Chiluba who wanted to see Levy lose the last elections in preference to Michael Sata, is today in some way saying the same thing.

We had faith in Levy’s integrity as a man who would not spoil the real meaning of his entire life for peanuts, as he didn’t.

Levy was a true human being for our country. A challenge to be human. With him one cherished to be human.

We cannot minimise the loss and pretend that all is as before. We are very much worse off without Levy. We say that no one is indispensable. But we only had one Levy. We won’t have another.

The greatest tribute we could pay to Levy is to live, as he did, with warmth and kindness, with great integrity, with courage, with a simple unaffected humility. We hope we will be able to live up to his legacy. And the only way we can stand a chance of doing so is to make sure we choose our leaders on the basis of the standards he set – the standards of incorruptibility, honesty, integrity and commitment.

If we choose thieves, crooks, power-hungry elements, we will be moving away from his legacy into that of criminals.

It is not death, a mere biological fatality which should bind us, which should bring us closer to each other. It is Levy’s life, his thought, his action, his will and his energy that should bind us as we face this sombre future.

And with this in mind, we should say the fight continues and only a man, although a giant, has died. It is up to us to draw lessons from this, from Levy’s life and death.

Labels: MWANAWASA

posted by MrK @ 5:52 AM