Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley


Tonight we watched the movie Invictus. If you are unfamiliar it's the story of Nelson Mandela and South Africa's World Cup winning rugby team, the Springboks. Mandela is an inspiring figure. As Matt Damon's character points out, here is a man who spent nearly 30 years wrongfully imprisoned who came out a leader ready to forgive. The above poem is one he loves and where the movie gets its title.

So I got thinking.

I've winced. I've cried aloud. I've bemoaned and generally bitched about chance's "bludgeonings". But I am deeply grateful for "my unconquerable soul".

This week has brought a challenge with some fully bat-shit-insane neighbors. I've wanted to go over there and raise some hell! But all week I've told myself, "Okay, so you say you believe in nonviolence and the yogic principle of nonharming. So do you just say that's what you believe or do you live what you believe?" I've been trying. But some days it's all I can do to keep myself from going next door and pressing my bare butt cheeks against their sliding glass door.

I've heard you store different emotions in different places in your body. You store anger in your lower back. Thus, it is important for me to not hold on to anger, for all of us really. Nelson Mandela has inspired me. If he can forgive losing 30 years of his life, I can easily forgive a couple of crazies.

I am captain of my soul.