Nelson Mandela is no more..
I am not going to write an obituary here, there are people far better qualified to do that, however I can write about how I saw Mandela..
I am not going to write about these incidental hate posts and blogs I have read and depict Mandela as a bloodthirsty terrorist and even a tyrant, posts that are illustrated with graphical pictures of horribly murdered people and this is all blamed on Nelson Mandela..
I am not going to write about his personal life, just because personal things should be left personal
But I can write about the way I slowly became aware of his existence .
It was when the news started to give attention to the apartheid problem and the sabotage campaign by the ANC to force the south African white minority government end Apartheid..
Then for the first time in my life I heard the name of Nelson Mandela was mentioned as the leader of this movement who was already 25 years of a life sentence in prison for opposing the apartheid. that was it.
Details came later about the sometimes very violent protests and attacks by the ANC to Free Mandela..
I disagree with the violence, but it did get the attention of the world..
Governments, human rights organizations, musicians all over the world started to pressure the South African government to release Mandela from prison..
 |
| Free after 27 years in prison |
His release from prison was broad-casted live all over the world and this huge crowd was waiting for him to walk out the door to freedom and when it finally happened, there he was, a gray man who looked very tired, (I would look the same after 27 years of prison) making the first steps of his regained freedom and the "fist in the air" victory sign. This was the man he black majority saw as the one who could and would end apartheid and oppression of the white minority, and it was like I could feel the almost unbearable weight up the shoulders of this gray 72 year old man
What happened in the years after that were noting short of a human miracle..
Nelson Mandela had the power to start a revolution which would have made the French revolution look like a children's slumber party.
He did not abuse this power but used it to let the black majority and the white minority come together in this way preventing a bloody revolution from happening.
He did what the world thought to be impossible, he made peace between the black and white people and ended the apartheid without violence, without a civil war..
And I can write about how about I see Nelson Mandela:
December 5 2013 age 95 the last man who possibly could negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians died after a life where he made a difference as one person.
There is no man like him, and I don't know how long we will have to wait for another Nelson Mandela will enter history
Well said and thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete