By Dr. Charles NDHLOVU

Dr. Charles Ndhlovu graduated with a Doctorate in Social Communication specializing in Communication Theology at the Pontifical University of Salesianum in Rome – Italy. You may find his publications on the website: charlesndhlovu.wordpress.com; also found on Youtube (Fr. Charles Ndhlovu – Mkhalirachiuta). He is the owner, proprietor and founder of Emmaus.  He is on linkedin and on academia.

The role of each person is to realize oneself as a person and become conscious of one’s essential transcendence.  The tragedy in our lives and in history is when persons devalue and degrade themselves to the level of natural self-preservation.

The person must wake up and realize his or her greatness and uphold this greatness or transcendence.  In other words, a person must go beyond placing herself or himself as the centre, or as being the sum total of life.

There are also times when the human being must sacrifice themselves in order to maintain their moral integrity.  For example; the martyrdom of Maximilian Kolbe, exemplifies how he sacrificed his life in order to preserve his moral integrity and save other human beings.  Such type of death is valuable and has meaning especially in this case where Kolbe voluntarily gave up his life for the sake of another person.  In a way, this is the highest way of fulfilling oneself as a human being.  Kolbe, a prisoner, when faced with the prospect of seeing someone getting shot down in prison, stepped forward to sacrifice himself and be shot dead on behalf of the other.

This shows that we cannot only reduce a human being to naturalistic terms – of self-perpetuation.  Personhood has an absolute end in itself.  This assertion is based on the fact that a human person conceives and follows his or her natural inclinations, can go and transcend his nature and has the ability as well to sacrifice himself or herself on behalf of other people.  This is the absoluteness of personhood but this is done in freedom.

A person can decide what he or she wants to do with his life.  This in a way is linked to the concept of freedom.  A person is free to decide the direction of his life.  The problem however that we have now is that in the age of technological civilisation, the age of profit making and capitalism, all that matters at times seems to be limited to making of profit.  To an extent that what does not make profit is seen as meaningless and not important at all. 

As such, the ability of the person to transcend his or her self-centredness to the point of sacrificing oneself can be overshadowed and not be given much value.  In this sacrifice of oneself for others, we see the greatness of the person, the absolute nature of the person and the special dignity of the human person, who has the capacity to give himself or herself for the sake of others.

The most important yardstick and measure for ultimate truth therefore is not politics, economy or history.  These are not the yardsticks for personhood, not even important marks for framing morality.  The example of the sacrifice of Kolbe who gave up his life as a martyr is a clear example of the difference between what politicians or historians value as opposed to the highest act of the person which is the act of sacrifice.

Kolbe as a person decided to do what was right regardless of the consequences that he would incur in turn.  Human persons therefore are not only preoccupied with thoughts of their own survival.  Human beings are not survival machines who must survive at all costs.

On the contrary, human beings have the freedom to sacrifice their lives in martyrdom and it is in martyrdom that the ultimate truth about the human person is found.  The dignity of the person is not in doing survival acts but in making acts of sacrifice. 

However this act of sacrifice is done and given in freedom.  It is in this way that we can overcome the dichotomy that is usually seen between freedom and human nature.

There are characteristics, traits and appetites that belong to the human person which we do not have to destroy but the human person has to integrate these in a social and human way in life. 

Therefore, freedom is not just something exercised outside the nature of the human person but the person is constituted of both freedom and nature, self-centredness of the person and transcendence of the person. 

This relationship between freedom and nature, between the self-centredness of the person and the self-transcendence of the person shows the dignity of the person. This is what we celebrate today somehow that some of our own people sacrificed their natural instincts for self-perpetuation but were able to give themselves up for the sake of our independence and freedom. 

This land of Malawi has seen so many brave Malawians who stood firm in the face of injustice and oppression – our martyrs – our heroes.  We remember and celebrate their lives today!