Desmond Tutu's Christmas message

Desmond Tutu

As I was driving home from Midnight Mass last night, I heard Desmond Tutu's Christmas message to the BBC on my car radio. He used that occasion to call attention to the plight of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who, by rights, should be the prime minister of Burma but who is under house arrest as a prisoner of conscience. Here's a taste of what he said:

...to Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma...That military regime is dead scared of you - and let me tell you somthing: they have already lost...

Here's something else he said about her at another time:

In physical stature she is petite and elegant, but in moral stature she is a giant. Big men are scared of her. Armed to the teeth and they still run scared.

Please click on the BBC World Service Christmas Greetings page and scroll down to listen to the whole message. It is inspiring. Archbishop Desmond always is.

Here's something Aung San Suu Kyi has said:

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

And something else on the same subject:

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.

Please read the Wikipedia article about her. She is clearly a remarkable woman.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a serious meditator. Let that be an inspiration to us all.

May all who are living under oppression this Christmas be sustained by courage and the knowledge that many throughout the world are in solidarity with them - sending them thoughts and the assurance of prayers. Let us do what we can and, wherever we are in the world, let us never be the instruments of our own oppression.