A Superb Essay and a Deprecating Quote — regarding President Obama on Nelson Mandela’s Passing — as Seen through Azad Essa’s Eyes — Exceptional Insight into Something Still Close in Time

2013 Peter Free

 

13 December 2013

 

 

Citation

 

Azad Essa, Memorial missed Madiba magic, Aljazeera English (12 December 2013)

 

 

Notice how Azad Essa’s essay differs from everything else you may have read about the commemoration of Nelson Mandela’s life

 

He begins by setting the mood and getting immediately to his point — outstanding writing and cutting insight:

 

 

Tens of thousands braved the rain to attend the memorial in Johannesburg, but many of the speeches felt rehearsed.

 

It was a bizarre day. There were moving gestures, thunderous rounds of applause and boring, staid speeches.

 

As memorial services go, it is said there has never been anything bigger. With tens of thousands of spectators, more than 50 heads of state in attendance, the security apparatus had the surrounding area in a virtual lock-down.

 

The stage then was set, the occasion however lacked magic. Every speech felt rehearsed, every gesture emptied of sincerity.

 

Only Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu spoke from the heart, as he always seems to do. But by then, the stadium was empty, the mourners themselves dearly departed.

 

Madiba’s passing was never about the flesh and blood of a man. It was about the end of an era.

 

© 2013 Azad Essa, Memorial missed Madiba magic, Aljazeera English (12 December 2013) (extracts)

 

 

And then there was this insight regarding President Obama’s sonorous irrelevance

 

Essa’s alert eye for succinct evaluation:

 

 

So much has been said, made out of Barack Obama’s speech, even more made out of his selfie with British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, but only the myopic would have found his eulogy inspiring.

 

A 75-year-old-former pastor from Soweto described Obama “as just being loud”. A security guard in Parkhurst said Obama seemed to bring up his wife Michelle in his speech just for the heck of it.

 

It is not that Obama’s sentiments didn’t sound sincere. It’s just that if you are familiar with Obama’s speeches through the years, you realise his sincerity is malleable.

 

© 2013 Azad Essa, Memorial missed Madiba magic, Aljazeera English (12 December 2013)

 

This is genius.  It goes to the heart of our President’s failings.  Delivered in three sentences. And in implied contrast with the iconic man the ceremony was honoring.

 

 

The moral? — There are two

 

Intelligence sees more clearly than most among the media rabble.

 

Delivering insight and relevance does not take many words.