The transition of Nelson Mandela brought many people across the world to a point of contemplation. He rose through death to an almost godlike status. He was born just after the 1914 rebellion when Afrikaners protested against the burden of English domination. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 a year before I was born. The first time I heard of Nelson Mandela as an Afrikaner boy was at the age of about 10 when we had a debate in class. The debate centered around declarations that was made by Buthelezi at the time. One of the kids spoke about Nelson Mandela and that was the first time I heard the name
zeal4living
During the early 1960’s my wife and I had occasion to study revolutionary movements around the world. One of my classes was delayed until the prof could be released from a South African jail – he was attempting to teach sociology to Black African students. My wife had a fellow student i one of her classes, a Black African, who surprised the class with his condemnation of the British for oppression rather than Afrikaners. It is interesting to think back to that time and see how attitudes have changed – for example, in those days the classic terrorist models were Israeli.
Some ultra-conservatives in the US still regard Mandela as a communist terrorist – and regard our current president as little better. The crazies are still with us.
I saw qualities in him that I wish all humans would strive for.
Thank you for this tribute.
HUGS!!!