Sunday, November 25, 2007

Like the gardener, a leader must take responsability for what he cultivates, he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved and eliminate what cannot succeed.
There is about a particularly beautiful tomato plant, how I coaxed it from a tender seedling to a robust plant that produced deep red fruit.
But, then, either throught some mistake or lack of care, the plant began to wither and decline and nothing I did would bring it back to health.
And it finally died....I had a misture of feelings: I did not want our relationship to go the way of that plant, and yet I felt that I had been unable to nourish many of the most important relationships in my life, sometimes there is nothing one can do to save something that must die.

Nelson Mandela (in the book "Long Walk to Freedom"

1 comment:

Clara said...

Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Ghandi...homens que nasceram para iluminar este mundo...
Belo post.Belas palavras.

Regresso.....Palavras sentidas, oh tempo! Cheguei...