Happy Memories

October 7^th is the birthday of the Right Revd. Mpilo Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town (Emeritus) I think about the privilege I had to work for him and when the time and place is appropriate I do not mind to drop his name as one person who had a huge influence in my life. When other people tell jokes about the jokes that he is so fond to make, I can tell jokes about me and him like the one where he called out to me across the courtyard one evening on our way home and I was proudly wearing a leather skirt made my mother… “ Hey Simone, where is the skirt to the belt you are wearing!” It was hilarious and I can still see him laughing and having fun with this youth from the countryside who had the chance to work for a Nobel Peace Prize winner and best of all, someone who saw in me the potential to be part of something great – building peace in our country.

Impressions of a youth all grown up

We are inadvertently shaped

By our interactions

With those around us

We always have the opportunity

To shape others

By our examples and choices wise

We are always interconnected

Conscious and unconscious

All part of one universe

We are always called to practice mindfulness

An understanding sometimes transient

Collectiveness a challenge, sadly less and less natural

We are never truly bound to be whom we were set out to be

The universe always converges

Calling on all to act conscientiously

By Simone Beatrice Naik Hagfeldt, 2013-10-07

Happy Birthday Baba, I appreciate the time I worked for you.

Happy Memories

You surprised me

On my 21^st birthday party and we danced under the stars

We danced together

At the celebrations on the lawn on your 60^th birthday party

Now you live there and I live here

Our lives forever linked by the long-ago contact over one year!

By Simone Beatrice Naik Hagfeldt, 2013-10-07