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Robert F. Kennedy's Of Water And The Spirit

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“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” This quote from Robert F. Kennedy’s “Ripple of Hope” speech instilled in anti-apartheid student activists in South Africa, who could not speak for themselves and felt lonely, hope that their struggles for racial equality were interconnected with the civil rights movements around the world. Therefore, it illustrates the importance of one rebelling against oppressive forces because it creates a community of those scarred by the oppression. This allows one to heal by trying to find their identity because they have the backing of a community.Thus, depicting that rebellion is a way of healing oneself. In Of Water and the Spirit, Malidoma Some argues that rebellion is a constructive way to heal oneself during oppressive times, with which I agree.
Of Water and the Spirit begins with Malidoma, his name meaning “be friends with stranger or enemy,” being born into a Dagara village in Burkina Faso. Malidoma’s early childhood was spent mostly with his grandfather learning about the Dagara culture because in the Dagara culture, the bond between grandchild and grandfather is unbreakable. At the age of five, Malidoma’s grandfather dies and soon after, Malidoma is
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