Sunday, December 8, 2013

Rolihlala (1918 - 2013)

There really are few words to add to the many tributes that have poured in from the mouths of children, journalists, citizens of South Africa and the world.

The humilility, grace and wisdom with which Nelson Mandela conducted his life in its personal and public, social and political realms are so great an inspiration. The ease with which he forgave, the frankness of his spirit and the way he worked so hard to prove time and time again the importance of a leadership that does not strive for dominion but rather compassion and unity. All of these are reasons to mourn a loss of immense proportions.

Indeed, he was mere human bearing the iniquity we all possess and there it is incorrect to speak of him in a godlike manner (one you would imagine he would despise being so modest) but his unbelievable ability to push beyond the instict to become embittered, maddened and in need of vengeance prove to us that we mere mortals can too work against the darkness in our hearts, imagine a future that appears impossible in the moment and persist in all our might to change this world for the absolute better of all people.

Viva Madiba viva.