A C H A P E L TA L K
by Ayanda S. Tambo ’19 May 17, 2019 voces
Forgetting the
Flowers that Didn’t Grow I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended. —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
T
Ayanda on the Circle
oday is the seventeenth of May 2019. We are a mere sixteen days away from Prize Day. For me, and I am sure for much of the Sixth Form, this term has felt simultaneously like the longest, the shortest, the happiest, and the most heart-wrenching period of time we have ever experienced. To me, Sixth Form spring feels like a painfully prolonged breakup of a two-year relationship with a very needy girlfriend called Groton School. And as breakups sometimes do, for me this one has sparked a whole lot of confusion. The quote I chose for the reading is from former South African President Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. If we are to use Mandela’s metaphor of hills representing the biggest moments of one’s life, then I agree that there is a point when, after reaching the summit, we do take a moment to rest. Sometimes it is voluntary, and sometimes it is not, but regardless, most phases of life must come to an end. As we descend from the hill into the valley below that awaits us before the next great hill, we look around, observing and reflecting on the journey. Now, I know this may be starting to feel like a very far-fetched metaphor, but stay with me
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