This weekend we had a big snow storm in New York. I guess it just wasn't New York, but most of the east coast. The news stations warned everyone and I knew that going into the city on a Saturday night might mean not getting home. So I planned a head to stay with my friend if I wasn't able to get home.
I got on the bus and getting into the city on Saturday night was one of the easiest commutes I have ever had. No one was going into the city. There was no wait for the tunnel at all. When I got to Port Authority the snow began to fall. I met my friend Sharilyn and we waited for our friend Barb. Barb called a little after the appointed meeting time. She told us she was having trouble printing her final and said she wouldn't be able to met us for the evening we had planned. Sharilyn and I decided to take the subway up to Barb and meet with her once she was finished with her paper. We got on the subway and got off at 116th. When we got to the stop the snow was really coming down so we called her and told her that we would meet her at DeLuxe Cafe on 113th.
We got to the restaurant and sat down to defrost. We talked to the waiter and listened to his suggestions then waited a little longer. We finally decided to order our dinner. I got the meat loaf with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes and Sharilyn ordered the lasagna. We both decided on warm comfort food to go along with the projected blizzard. Shortly after ordering Barb called us and told us to go a head and order. She said she had just finished printing her paper and would be there shortly. She arrived just as we were getting our food. She ordered a hamburger and we settled in for good food and conversation. We laughed and talked and enjoyed a nice evening with Barb before she headed home for the holidays.
When dinner was over we said goodbye to Barb, then Sharilyn and I decided to go catch a movie before calling it a night. We went to the theater at Lincoln Center and watched Invictus. I really enjoyed the movie, but as Sharilyn and I were talking after the movie, I was a little embarrassed and surprised by the fact that apartheid ended in my life time. I had no idea that it took place during 1992. I was so impressed with Morgan Freeman's performance of Nelson Mandela. I loved his message of forgiveness, and how he unified his nation. He was so wise in how he handled unifying a nation that was at the verge of falling apart. I really loved how he guided people together to begin the healing of a nation on the verge of self destruction. Forgiveness was his message to those who worked closely with him and for those of his nation.
In the movie Nelson Mandela gives the poem that follows to the captain of the Spring Board, which was the South Africa rugby team. He tells him how he used this poem while he was incarcerated for 27 years with a large part on Robben Island. When things were tough he would recite this poem.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
This was an inspiring movie for me. I really enjoyed the message of forgiveness and that we have control over our souls even if we may not have control over the situation.
