A Tribute to Nelson Mandela
Yesterday we lost a true visionary, leader and friend of humanity. Nelson Mandela was a man who spent much time in jail, and yet changed the world, especially the world around him. His life is a tremendous inspiration to me. So I would like to share some of his inspiring words.
Below are some positive quotes. I think it is wise to also realize that Mandela had a “dark side” as we all do. To be human is to embrace the good and the bad, which I see Mandela did. He did not build his own fantasy, but lived in the real world.
“It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
“I am not the only one who did not want revenge. Almost all my colleagues in prison did not want revenge, because there is no time to do anything else except to try and save your people.” —Larry King Live, May 16, 2000
“I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one.” —Larry King Live, May 16, 2000
“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.” —Rivonia trial, 1964
“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.” —From a letter to Winnie Mandela, 1975
“Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”
(source)
I guess some UBFers might regard UBFriends as though some people who critique UBF are like terrorists! (rebels, renegades, reprobates, etc): “I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one.”
Ben, as soon as I read that quote from Mandela, I thought of you and so I added it.
That’s nice Brian. I’ve really not been called terrorist…yet. I’ve been called a whole bunch of other things (all of them CUTE!), but not terrorist. I guess I’m still not yet worthy of being called “terrorist”!
Tribute to Mandela: http://vimeo.com/81177062
“In the United States, we speak about the efforts that led to the overthrow of the British colonization as our national revolution, the birth of a nation. The British called it treason. Had the American Revolution turned out differently, George Washington would in all likelihood have been hung as a traitor. He would also have been accused of being what we now call a terrorist. … in the process of politics in a fallen world, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
That honest assessment recognizes that when you look at the process of political change, the kind of change on a scale necessary to overthrow something as powerful as apartheid, it looks in a fallen world as if force, more often than not, becomes necessary. That is lamentable; but we ought to note it honestly. This is a crucial moral factor in our consideration of the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela.
Reinhold Niebuhr’s great theological contribution was to remind us that history reveals the inescapable irony of the human condition. Everything we do is tainted by human sin, and the huge characters who change world events often demonstrate grave moral faults, even as they achieve great moral change. Nelson Mandela was one of those men. He was essential—even indispensable—to his nation and to the eradication of apartheid. But no man’s life is heroic in every respect, and no human hero can save.”
http://www.albertmohler.com/2013/12/07/nelson-mandela-and-the-ironies-of-history/
Nelson Mandela accomplished great and unimanginable things for his country, but the price was so expensive and he paid it. He did not start out perfectly and his record is not clean, but he stood up and relentlessly worked to see his dream fulfilled. Reading this article and the Mohler article really reminds me of the political situation in Kyiv. People are labelled as terrorists, when what they really are trying to do is make a differenc and future for their country. Uprooting an apartheid seemed impossible, uprooting the deception and injustice leftover from a totalitarian states also seems impossible now. It seems as though the corrumption will never stop. I’m sure that’s how Mandela’s contermpories felt, but a difference was made. It is so true that these great leaders Mendela, Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington, Ataturk, etc. had their faults which are not absoluted by their sucess, but maybe balanced out. It really shows that “no man’s life is herois in every respect, and no human hero can save.” It points us back to JC. I pray for a Ukrainian Mendela, though.