Vaclav Havel, the playwright, dissident, and eventually first president of the Czech Republic after it split away from the Soviet Union, died yesterday. His greatest achievement was to inspire Czechoslovakia to rebel against its Communist leaders. He did this by his writing. In 1977, he and 200 other dissidents founded a human rights movement, Charter 77, and in 1978 he wrote an essay, “The Power of the Powerless” in which he described Czechoslovakia’s then-current regime as a morally bankrupt system based on pervasive lying.
For his work for human rights, he was sentenced to five years in prison. In spite of being in prison, he was committed to nonviolence. His motto was “Truth and Love must prevail over lies and hate.”
Why do we honor him on a show about money and business? Because his living the truth brought down a morally corrupt political and economic system. He exhorted his fellow citizens to live truth. They did. It led to the Velvet Revolution, the bloodless toppling of the corrupt Czechoslovakian communist regime.
As a friend of his said in The Australian tomorrow (and it's already tomorrow in Australia and you can find it online) he said “he was one of the last of a now extinct breed of politicians who could lead effectively in extraordinary times because their first commitment was to common decency and the common good, not too holding power. If the world is to make it through its various crises successfully, his legacy must remain alive.”
Vaclav Havel, a hero for the last century; an example for this one.
Copyright 2011 Pamela Jane Wylie
Pam Powell is an author, playwright and radio personality living in Springfield, OR. Connect with her on Linked In.
© 2014 Pam Wylie Powell