Thinking about Mandela’s mile

 When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island by the apartheid state in South Africa, he was forced to break rocks into gravel in a quarry, perhaps a 20-minute march away.

Some of the prisoners hated the walk. But Mandela noticed things along the way: birds and blooms of wildflowers.

In a way, the walk was a small part of the day he had to himself and his own thoughts. And so he gave that time to himself, just by paying attention.

We often take a walk and notice nothing, or very little. Or we put on headphones and try to blot out the unpleasantness we feel with music.