R.I.P Mandela

I found out about Mandela's death via social media. Though deep down I knew the passing of Nelson Mandela would occur during my lifetime it is something that I did not want to accept. Even when Mandela took a turn for the worse in hospital a few months back I kept praying that he wouldn't die. Unfortunately the day I was dreading came on 5 December 2013.

I remember first learning about Mandela in my latter years of Primary school from my teacher who was a South African. She told us about Mandela's imprisonment and played us a song and the lyrics were "free Nelson Mandela, free Nelson Mandela" (you can youtube it "The Specials - Nelson Mandela"). That was a song I never forgot

Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo a small village in South Africa. His birth name was Rolihlahla Mandela. His first name in Xhosa means "pulling the branch of a tree" and "trouble maker". He was given the name Nelson by his school teacher on his first day of school because in those days it was common for African children to be given Christian and English names.

I was going to spend the majority of this blog post summarising his life but that is something you can easily read on Wikipedia. Instead I am now going to focus on what can be learned from Mandela's life.

The thing about Mandela's life which strikes me the most was his imprisonment for 27 years. Pause. TWENTY SEVEN years!!! I haven't even lived for 27 years, I still have a few years to go until I reach that age. During his imprisonment Mandela was not allowed to attend the funerals of his mother and son. He was only allowed visitors once every 6 months and he missed out on his children growing up. He spent 18 of those years on Robben Island. He endured hard labor which included breaking rocks which affected his lungs (and I believe that was a contribution towards his death). This is a lot for any human being to go through.

When he was finally set free in 1990 he FORGAVE those who did this inhumane act against him. His main focus was reconciliation not revenge. If I went through what Mandela did I would want revenge on those who inflicted this on me. Taking 27 years of my life that I can't get back somebody will have to pay. Luckily Mandela didn't have my kind of mindset. It takes a really strong person to be able to forgive those who committed such an inhumane act against them. From this we can learn the importance of forgiveness, the Bible says "Forgive those who persecute you" as hard as it is, it's something we must try, that person who disrespected you, that person who hurt you, we have to learn to let go and forgive. If more people in the world forgave the world would be a much more peaceful place because far too many people die as a result of revenge and retaliation.

From Mandela I have also learned that it is important to stand up for what is right and what you believe in. He was a courageous man who was prepared to die for what is right.

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. - Mandela

How many of us are willing to die for what is right? not many of us including myself. But I do believe sometimes we do need to speak up against whats wrong whether its at work, school, home etc. There are times we may witness something which we know is wrong but do not want to get involved so we keep our mouths shut. Staying quiet will not bring change, we need to be more courageous. Standing up for what is right will not make everybody happy.  Mandela was labelled a terrorist because he was fighting against what was wrong in society. Sometimes we focus so much on what people will think about us but we shouldn't. As long as you are doing the right thing that's what matters.

Mandela achieved a tremendous amount in his life. He fought against apartheid, he fought against inequality and he was a great leader. Because of the contributions he made in his life the whole world is mourning his death. To have leaders from all over the world to attend his memorial, to have millions of people on social media post his pictures and share his quotes shows how great of a person he was. I hope most of the world leaders can learn from the example set by Mandela. Starting as boy from a small African village to becoming one of the greatest men to ever walk this earth. This shows that you do not have to come from wealth & privilege in order to be great. What you are today does not define what you will be tomorrow.

I am currently reading Mandela's Autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" and I hope to finish reading it before the film based on the book is released. Here is the trailer