Remembering Mandela in his words

Presidents Bouterse and Chavez with Portrait of Hope and Peace 

Nelson Mandela, the revered statesman who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, died on December 5, 2013.

In a nation healing from the scars of apartheid, Mandela became a moral compass. His defiance of white minority rule and incarceration for fighting against segregation focused the world's attention on apartheid, the legalized racial segregation enforced by the South African government until 1994.

In this Note we will remember Nelson Mandela by some of his quotes.

"Difficulties break some men but make others."

"I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles."

"Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people."

"A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of."

"Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do."

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."

"Lead from the back - and let others believe they are in front."

"I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations."

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."

"We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right."

"A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed."

"If there are dreams about a beautiful South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads could be named Goodness and Forgiveness."

Mandela and Fidel Castro

Nelson Mandela with Mohammed Ali

AlphaMax Academy presents " Great Thoughts, Great Minds, Great Moments in Time on You Tube

Students from 2007 - 2012 from the AlphaMax Academy in Suriname have presented an outstanding DVD on YouTube. The DVD under the theme of A Portrait of Hope and Peace features a program called " Great Thoughts, Great Minds, Great Moments in Time". 

 Celebrating over two centuries of great oratorical statements – and at the same time grounded in classical values and traditions – “Great Thoughts, Great Minds, Great Moments in Time” includes excerpts of speeches from:

Haile Selassie 
Chief Seattle 
Winston Churchill 
Abraham Lincoln 
Patrick Henry, 
John F. Kennedy
 Malcolm X
 Martin Luther King
 Nelson Mandela
 Rabindranath Tagore
 and President Barack Obama. 



 AlphaMax hopes that this message from a tiny school in a small, relatively unknown country -Suriname will reach across time and space and enter into the hearts of many guiding them to honor and respect true enduring values. Please watch the video and pass on the link to others.

 AlphaMax hopes that the world will listen and be moved to spread the message of hope and peace. http://youtu.be/sY8Hvusg0PQ

SCAD Gives a Presentation at AlphaMax Academy

Savannah College of Art and Design,(SCAD) is a private university primarily based in the U.S state of Georgia.  Alphamax Academy was fortunate enough to a visit from a SCAD recruiter. Daniel Sanchez visited our school and gave a wonderful presentation about his former University on Monday 28 January . The presentation was a brief slide show about life in SCAD, with students and former students giving a short explanation of what they were studying and/or where they are working at this moment.

AlphaMax  students who attended  this presentation were specifically chosen because of their study interests. Many of these students were from the art class and others came mainly from the drama department and humanities. 

Bust of Tagore at AlphaMax Academy

After the presentation Daniel Sanchez asked the students for questions. It appeared that our students are more interested in building arts (architecture) than  other departments. Their interest in the school was heightened when Mr. Sanchez spoke about the many scholarships 
this university had to offer. There were even teachers who were intrigued by the wide variety of options such as following the online courses that were available. 

 Daniel Sanchez reached his goal in getting our students interested in the field of Art and Design. I think that people who never even considered studying something else are now thinking about applying to this university. We hope to get many other visitors from College 
recruiters to show people that there are so many different things in this world than just the science stream which so many of our students feel is the only significant study area. 

SCAD also has establishments in  Hong Kong and France. SCAD  opened in 1979 with only seven faculty members and  71 students. Three years later the student body grew to 500 students. Today there are more than 11,000.

Many people are interested in SCAD is because of its great programs  which are in the following main fields:Building Arts; Communication;Arts; Design; Fashion; Digital Media; Entertainment Arts; Fine Arts; Liberal Arts.

SCAD offers what many other schools cannot, a chance to let your creative side show and possibly make a living out of it.

Cherise Playfair

 
Cherise Playfair—Senior AlphaMax Academy

Note: Cherise’s brother Stephan Playfair was a leading person in several AlphaMax presentations. You can see him in ‘ Portrait of Hope and Peace—Great Thoughts, Great Minds, Great Moments in Time.’

Kennedy and the AlphaMax's "Portrait of Hope and Peace"

In an article by Robert Schlesinger in US News and World Report on Friday 1 Jan 2013 some of the key points in John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address were highlighted.

Schlesinger mentions that Ted Sorensen, historian, aide and chief speechwriter, advised Kennedy to make it one of the shortest inauguration speeches.  So brevity was one of the virtues of this stirring address.  The speech was less than 1400 words.

 "The inaugural was a special occasion, and there was a special tone in that speech," Sorensen later recalled.

So tone and language structure made that speech one against which all other inauguration speeches are measured.

One line in that address - "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country" — has echoed across time for generations since 1961.  It was a call for service.  It has inspired many across the world to search for ways to change society for the better.

For my generation Kennedy represented a new direction in political thinking. He was  the youngest elected president,the first Roman Catholic and when he spoke of "the torch [having] been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace…" I believed he was appealing to those who wanted a fresh start in the way world politics and diplomacy were conducted.

Kennedy's statement "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe" makes us sad today when we reflect on the lengthy and terrible Vietnam War.

Many,like me, however, focused on his vision of a new paradigm for peace.  He proposed  a "new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved." 

One of the most memorable lines in the speech is: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."  It is an ideal that I believe leaders today should seek.

AlphaMax Academy in its DVD 'Great Thoughts, Great Minds, Great moments in Time'-A Portrait of Hope and Peace features excerpts from Kennedy's inaugural address done by Gabrielle Goedhart.  You can view it on YouTube-Portrait of Hope and Peace.  The script of the DVD urges all to seek clarity about the highest goals we can set to achieve Peace.

At the AlphaMax Academy, a unique and leading international school in Suriname, timeless leadership values are treasured and held loft before each generation of students.  In a subtle way, the school is training leaders to take their place in the world of business, politics, the environment, and global affairs, in a rapidly changing world.

Milton Drepaul