Archbishop Desmond Tutu Visits Murray State University

Thousands gathered in the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky., Feb. 22 to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu's message of peace and reconciliation.

The content of Tutu's speech paralleled work he has done with The Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was established after the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela, a person Tutu described as a "symbol of peace and reconciliation."

Tutu first asked the audience to give a warm round of applause to F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa who was instrumental in the end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela's release from prison. De Klerk was not present at the event.

He further set up his speech with an anecdote before continuing on to outline ways people deal with relationship fallout. Tutu said one reaction is "to ignore the hurt, the slight, the misunderstanding. The slight has never occurred. It's a case of let bygones be bygones."

"In the long run, bygones refuse to be bygones," Tutu said. He said the wounds do not heal when ignored.

"The wound had in fact gone septic," Tutu said. "The remedy would be to lance the boil, open it up...to acknowledge the hurt."

He said possibly the most common reaction is to retaliate. "Why try to be magnanimous and turn the other cheek?" Tutu said. "If you don't stand up for your rights, you always run the great risk of being taken advantage of."

Tutu said this reaction only leads people to "engage in an orgy of retaliation."

Referring to years of strife in South Africa, he said "we saw a magnanimity and nobility of spirit" where victims would embrace the perpetrators. The success of his country's rehabilitation, Tutu said, was dependent on the population's willingness to follow an example of peace and reconciliation.

He cited examples contradictory to his message, such as Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Bosnia and Iraq. At this point, Tutu hit home, scolding the United States for its actions against Iraq after 9/11.

"Your country could have brought the criminals to trial," Tutu said. "The world would have rallied even more around you. Instead an illegal and immoral option was chosen. The response was not what we expected from a great country such as you. I'm fascinated by how humans can invest so much in instruments of death and destruction."

He said that same money could have been used to provide clean water to children, a comment met with a round of applause.

Tutu recounted two examples where in horrific circumstance people met with perpetrators of crimes against their families in a spirit of forgiveness. He said Betty Savage, severely injured by a hand grenade at Christmas dinner, wanted to forgive her aggressors.

He said the parents of Amy Beale, a student stoned and stabbed because she was white, supported amnesty of the attackers and even employed them after forming the Amy Beale Foundation.

"Human beings are incredible," Tutu said. "God created us for togetherness. You and I are bound together by a delicate network of interdependence."

Tutu said people are made differently in order to "make up for what is lacking in the other."

"A person is a person through other persons," Tutu said.

Tutu went on to praise the students of Murray State University, encouraging them to continue in a spirit of tolerance. He said he was annoyed with the media's constant portrayal of negativity, indicating there are many incredible stories of students' great humanitarian efforts.

"Go on dreaming. Go on being idealistic," Tutu said. "Refuse to be affected by the cynicisms of oldies like me."