Rest In Peace.
Good bye old man, the world owes you a lot.
Everyone knew this was coming, but it’s a shock nevertheless. I can’t think of any ‘public’ person I admire(d) more than Nelson Mandela. I came to JC to voice this, confident that there must be a thread on his death. Nelson Mandela, rest in peace.
Mandela won’t rest in peace, he will rest in victory. No leader has recently had the positive global impact that this one man has had and that in such a short period. His efforts toward and contributions to the advancement of human rights are without reproach and perhaps without equal.
Greg, as always, thank you for your words of incredible wisdom, compassion and humanity.
I am not going to rewrite history: I remember quite clearly that during meetings for “free Mandela” (a long time ago) I was asking myself: “who is this guy? can we really support him? isn’t he an advocate of random violence? well anyway Apartheid should end…”
Then I later realized that you can be an extraordinary man by being a normal man that has courage to stand for principles and also evolve.
I recommend seeing the picture “Plot for Peace” it is interesting because it is about an unlikely negociator for Apartheid’s end. The story of this (french) guy is interesting because he was himself imprisoned during the liberation war of Algeria (he was a supporter of “french Algeria” and later realised that such a similar attitude was going to destroy the Afrikaners).
again being principled and matching your principles to reality to make a dream come true is the hallmark of a great man.
Tears came to my eyes when Madiba died…