My first thought: I woke up yesterday morning in Muizenberg, just south of Cape Town, to the news delivered by Nathan that Nelson Mandela had died the previous night Cape Town time. Not surprisingly, my immediate reaction was one of deep sadness. I do not surmise that Madiba was a perfect man. I have not steeped myself in his personal or political history, yet I know that he had some Malcolm X in him, and that he said things I find inaccurate or just plain disagree with. But I know with conviction that Nelson Mandela’s moral leadership, political aptitude, and sheer force of character led South Africa from the depths of an apartheid that left the majority of his countrymen without dignity to a position of regional, and indeed global, leadership in the universal struggle to create a free and just society. That a world is weeping when he has finally gone to that long sleep testifies to the impact he has had. If in my lifetime I can live with a fraction of the courage or impact a fraction of a percentage of the lives that he did, I will consider my life well-lived. It is with these acknowledgements that I say that Nelson Mandela will be sorely missed. Continue reading
On Nelson Mandela’s Passing
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