Last night I traveled with 40 students and faculty to see Archbishop Desmond Tutu accept the Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award from James Madison University. Roughly 40 students decided that listening to Archbishop Tutu was more important than anything else they had planned for a Friday night. I am impressed and proud of these students. We had a great time. As he spoke about the possibilities of peace in the world and a belief in the ultimate triumph of good over evil I sat transfixed. It wasn’t simply the power of his words, but the combination of the words along with a career spent promoting justice in South Africa and around the world that gave his message such meaning. One can’t help but draw a comparison with the evangelical nutjobs that infect our televisions. He was also very funny and incredibly humble. The archbishop even did a little dance on stage after he was given an honorary doctorate from the university. All in all it was a wonderful evening.
