Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013

Nelson Mandela has died at the age of 95.

What can you say about someone like Nelson Mandela that hasn't been said already?  I've never read the his autobiography and I was a little too young to understand or remember his release from prison in 1990, but I do remember South Africa's first multi-racial, truly democratic elections in 1994.  I remember plenty- far too many, in fact, predictions of doom and destruction.  But Mandela and South Africa proved everybody wrong and that's probably one of the most remarkable things that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime.   South Africa remains free and democratic. That could be his greatest legacy of all.

I sort of went on a Mandela kick a couple of years ago after I caught one of ESPN's 30 For 30 documentaries called The 16th Man which chronicled South Africa's victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was cannily used by Mandela, whose support for the Springboks (viewed at the time as a symbol of prejudice and apartheid) helped rally the nation behind the time and helped to bridge many divides after Apartheid fell.  The story (perhaps a wee bit Hollywood-ized, I'll concede) fascinated me so I got my hands on what looked like a good biography of the man and read it cover to cover.

What an amazing life- I think NPR summed it up best:  'He was born into a country that labelled him a second-class citizen and died one of the world's most respected men.'

I've already seen snark on Twitter between lefties and righties (more across the Pond than here, but it's probably coming) about whether Mandela was a terrorist or not.  Personally, I find it distasteful turning a person's death into a pissing match instead of the celebration of life its supposed to be and if you're really going to harp on about who said what thirty years ago in the middle of the Cold War, then it's a little sad.  And given the fact that Mandela was thrown into prisoner for twenty seven years and ultimately invited his jailers to his inauguration, his message of the power of forgiveness risks being forgotten.

What will history ultimately say about Mandela?  I'll leave that up to history to decide, though I'll just say that you can probably count on one hand people whose moral character and courage in the face of oppression inspire more than just people in their own country but people around the world.  It was a privilege to live in a world where he did and he will be missed.