This week’s passing of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s former leader, has prompted an extraordinary global demonstration of admiration that is unparalleled in contemporary times.
The difficulties Mandela faced throughout his lifetime are nearly impossible for readers to fully grasp: Born in 1918 (the year before John F. Kennedy), he emerged from a small tribal village in South Africa after losing his father at age nine, then endured 27 years as a political prisoner under a racist apartheid regime—yet ultimately became the most respected and cherished figure on the world’s stage.
To South Africans, Nelson Mandela embodied the roles that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln held for America: he freed tens of millions from oppression and worked to mend the deep wounds inflicted by decades of tyranny. His declaration that “Courageous people do not fear forgiveness for the sake of peace” reflected the same spirit Lincoln expressed toward the vanquished South as the Civil War drew to a close: “With malice toward none, with charity for all….”
Only someone who had endured Mandela’s suffering could truly comprehend, as he did, that liberation requires shedding not just physical bondage but also the emotional chains of hatred and revenge that obstruct progress toward a brighter future for both current and coming generations.
The reach of Mandela’s constructive legacy—extending beyond his own people to populations worldwide—demonstrates the capacity each individual possesses to create positive change, whether in our nation, state, community, or personal sphere.
An ordinary person who pursued extraordinary goals, Nelson Mandela’s example should motivate us all to embrace, in Lincoln’s words, “the better angels of our nature.”