Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the first black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, understands the value of kindness. He rose to worldwide fame in the 1980s for his opposition to apartheid, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Now the author of numerous books, he also holds many honorary doctorate degrees and is an honorary member of Free The Children’s Board of Directors.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Craig Kielburger share their Me to We moments at a luncheon in September 2006.
Who inspired him to achieve this? Read a portion of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s story from Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World:
"When I was just a small boy, I was sitting in a South African ghetto township, maybe thinking that I didn’t count for too much. But I soon learned that each one of us is a glorious original and has the capacity to be God’s special partner. At a tender age I discovered that it isn’t doing spectacular things that makes you remarkable in the eyes of God, but instead, it is when you light just one candle to dispel a little bit of darkness that you are doing something tremendous. And if, as a global people, we put all the little bits of good together, we will overwhelm the world. …
"As a child I had tuberculosis and went to the hospital for nearly two years. During that time, about once a week, Trevor Huddleston, a priest who became a renowned anti-apartheid activist, came to see me. He lived in Sophiatown as a member of a religious community, and he shared the life of the poor and deprived people. I wasn’t aware of it then, but his actions made a strong impression on me. In South Africa, it was unusual to see a white person caring for a black township urchin like myself, and his example contributed to a lack of bitterness I felt against whites. Trevor touched my life and I’m so very grateful, because he was a tremendous champion of goodness and the dispossessed. Through small examples of humanity, he cared for others and for me; he was one of the first strong examples for me of someone working those little bits of goodness."
Read about the two other major influences in Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s life in Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World, the fully-revised, second edition of the bestselling Me to We book by Craig and Marc Kielburger. Available on amazon.com, metowe.org or in bookstores near you! The Me to We philosophy is about improving our lives and our world by reaching out to others. It involves focusing less on “me” and more on “we”—our communities, our nation and our world.
