"Invictus," Clint Eastwood's latest cinematic contribution, is a searing inspirational film about Nelson Mandela's early years as president of South Africa and how he promoted the country's rugby team to help forge racial unity during its nascent post-apartheid era. The title and spirit of the film find roots in a poem that English writer William Ernest Henley penned in 1885.
Even if you've never read the poem or even heard of it, you still might recognize these piercing closing lines:
"I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul."
On not so grand a scale as Mandela, but with no less courage, charity and strength of character did Dr. William Powell deliver his own gift of peace and understanding to his country in the face of uncompromising bigotry and hate. Powell fought for the United States in World War II, committed to freeing the world from the yoke of tyranny. But he came home to find an enemy within, walls erected to replace the ones he'd helped tear down in other lands.
When not gripped by the frenetic duties of warfare, transporting explosives across Allied countryside, assisting in preparations for the D-Day invasion of continental Europe, U.S. Army Tech. Sgt. Powell sampled some of the finest and most revered courses in England and Scotland. When the war ended, so did his access to golf.
But a new pitched battle ensued, one for his pride, for principle, and for those who felt the sting of exclusion in whatever insidious form it was administered. The son of Alabama slaves, Powell, an accomplished golfer who had caddied as a youngster and was captain of his college golf team, refused to let others dictate the terms of his existence.
