The first time that I was cognizant of a nation’s leader passing away was when I was a young teen living in Pretoria, South Africa in 1978. President Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs was serving as President and would work in the Union Buildings, one of two primary government buildings in the country at that time, perhaps similar in function to our Congress in Washington D.C.
The Union Buildings were just a couple blocks away from our Pine Street address, and my school friends and I would play soccer on the grounds simply called The Union Gardens. Years later a man named Nelson Mandela stood in an elevated gazebo in the Union Gardens to give an acceptance speech for his newly elected presidency – a gazebo that I played in and around quite often as a kid.
I can’t really say that I had much of an awareness of President Diederichs prior to that late evening when my radio listening was interrupted with a news bulletin: The president had passed away.
The somberness of the moment hit me hard, and the emotions that followed were strange and unfamiliar to me. I had a certain level of sadness that settled in my mind and heart. Though I did not know whether the president had been good or bad, my sadness was nonetheless real and sincere.
Since then I have pondered and developed an understanding of why the passing away of a nation’s leader is so unique, and is worthy of somberness. The recent passing away of President Gerald Ford has once again – as so many times in the past with other leaders’ passing – triggered a somberness and a sadness within me as I heard the breaking news.
Leaders of Nations – Good and Bad
While opponents of apartheid (the dominant political policy in South Africa that maintained racial segregation) will wonder why I would mourn the passing of an apartheid-era president, and even more so wonder about my sadness of the soon-to-happen hanging of Iraq’s former President Saddam Husein, please allow me to explain why I would mourn the passing away of all leaders of nations like President Diedreich, President Ford, and President Husein.
The reason is this: the leaders of nations have great responsibility and opportunity. If they have served their nation and their world with goodness, then their passing is a sad event. If they have not served with distinction, but have been cruel and irresponsible with their God-given opportunities for serving their nation, then their passing away is also sad… for what could have been.
As I ponder the history and legacy of President Ford’s service to our nation during the grueling constitutional crisis of his day, I am so thankful that he served our nation with distinction, and took his God-given responsibility and opportunity very seriously. While his passing away is sad, we can also be consoled with great appreciation that he did it right. Maybe not perfect in some people’s eyes, but right nonetheless. We have been blessed by one of this nation’s former leaders: President Gerald Ford.