RIP Nelson Mandela

Words Like Freedom
by Langston Hughes

There are words like Freedom
Sweet and wonderful to say.
On my heartstrings freedom sings
All day everyday.

There are words like Liberty
That almost make me cry.
If you had known what I know
You would know why.”


Rest in Peace, Nelson Mandela. 

I remember first hearing of you when I was in fifth grade or so.  I was so young then.  I couldn't understand the gravity of the words our teachers used to describe you: courageous, educated, hope, love, freedom, liberty, and progression. 

I couldn't grasp the impact you had made on the world.  I didn't yet see that you were a visionary teaching humankind a huge lesson - that it is our duty to stand up for what is right and just.   

We were told that you had spent nearly three decades in prison, fighting to end apartheid.  But I had barely been alive for one decade so I couldn't comprehend what all of that time would have felt like - unjustly incarcerated.  The long endless days without your wife and children.  A dwindling but always present hope of a freedom that would take so long to come.  I didn't realize the private agony you must have felt when you found out your mother and 25-year-old son had both passed during the years you were in custody.

We learned about apartheid.  We were taught that whites and blacks were not equal in South Africa.  It was a hard pill for our young minds to swallow.  We simply couldn't believe that there was still a place on earth so racist and unjust - hadn't Abraham Lincoln taken care of all of that with the Civil War? 

I was too young to fathom that racism was still alive.  I was too naive to really get that you and your associates were working tirelessly over decades to end the cruel reign of bigotry that had rooted itself in your beautiful country since before even you were my age. At the time I lacked the understanding that the fight was over in 1994 when you won the South African Presidency.  That year, my classmates and I had unknowingly witnessed one of the greatest moments in history - your election.  Though, at the time I was just a young woman who thought that some "old man" had become President somewhere in "southern" Africa. 

Your vision, ideals and eternal love will be missed here on earth.

Below is an excerpt from the Freedom Charter, which was written by the original "Congress of the People" who were later disbanded.  This charter became a symbolic beacon for what Mandela and his associates would later accomplish:
"We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know;
That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no goverment can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people;
That our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality;
That our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities.