Welcome to the first blog about the constructive mindset! I happened to catch the 2009 ESPY awards and found the story about Nelson Mandela and the South African Springboks rugby team in the 1995 Rugby World Cup to be inspiring. I was pleased to learn sometime later that the story would be made into a movie, and subsequently found the movie Invictus to be inspiring as well.
The movie portrays the situation very well: Nelson Mandela is released from years of prison and is considered to be a terrorist. Then he becomes the winning candidate in the general election and is the new President of the Republic of South Africa. There is a power shift to reckon with. People who have previously been in a power position fear possible backlash from those who have had to deal with power abuses and are now in the power position. They assume they are out and are packing their belongings.
But wait! Mandela’s mindset is one of reconciliation. He not only respects himself and the will of the party he represents, he also respects others who formerly were against him. He considers all people in the nation to be his family. Invictus goes on to portray how Mandela helps to bring this constructive belief through the game of rugby, that is, to bring people together toward a common goal.
If Mandela formed and worked within the destructive mindset, he could possibly hunt out and punish any emblem of the former apartheid regime. The constructive mindset, however, liberates him to honour people and fight injustice. He becomes an inspiration for others to form the constructive mindset. The greater benefit is the unity of the nation.