On Thursday, December 5, 2013, the world learned about the passing of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Any attempt – by me – to extol the virtues and accomplishments of this great man would be a disservice to him and his memory. I am simply not qualified to tell his life story accurately nor adequately.
Nonetheless, I would like to share my perspective about a three things about the life of Nelson Mandela that I believe all men should strive to emulate.
Be Willing to Die
The decree “be willing to die” comes with a caveat. Be willing to die for a cause, for a reason that is bigger and more important than you. Unlike the idiom, ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ made famous by 50 Cent, be willing to die has nothing to do with money or material possessions. 50 Cent’s approach is a misguided and parasitic approach to living, an approach that only serves to further damage and suck the life from our already fragile community.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” Nelson Mandela was a man fit to live. Madiba put his life on the line for the well-being of South Africans and oppressed people around the world.
Now ask yourself, “What am I willing to die for?”
Daily Thoughts
Nelson Mandela’s daily thoughts for the majority of his life were on demolishing apartheid and any vestiges of the “insidious institution”. The South African Anti-Apartheid Revolution which he helped spearhead forced other nations, like the U.S., to look themselves in the mirror to scrutinize racism, sexism, poverty and other equalities in their own country.
Whether you have given much thought to Nelson Mandela’s life and/or his passing, it is worth noting that each day Nelson Mandela thought about you.
There is the famous aphorism that aptly describes Nelson Mandela “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he”. Nelson Mandela was convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the government and sentenced to life imprisonment because he could think of nothing more than living in a world that grants every human being their inalienable rights. Inalienable rights are rights that cannot be bought, sold or transferred from one individual to another – rights that U.S. citizens know as the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
A man in South Africa spent his life thinking about your freedom and equality. Who’s freedom and equality are you thinking of today?
Marathon Not A Sprint
Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison. Now before reading anything more, ruminate on the time-frame of twenty-seven years for a bit.
Nelson Mandela entered prison as a father and exited prison as a grandfather.
We can all learn from Mr. Mandela’s prison experience. Many of us wake each day, lamenting the conditions of our lives. Maybe it’s that we don’t have the job we want, we have not been promoted as we believe we deserve, we can’t afford the house we desire or we can’t get the new shiny vehicle we yearn…whatever the case we feel deprived and held captive. Nelson Mandela’s life serves as a reminder that, unlike him, the only place where we are prisoners is in our own mind.
There is little disagreement that this life can often times be more than a little challenging but, without question, we have the freedom to do what Mr. Mandela was not able to do for twenty seven years – control our own destiny. If a man having spent twenty-seven years in prison can become President think about all the things we can accomplish once we change our attitude and perspective.
Remember what Big Mama always told you, “The race is not given to the swift but to he who can endureth to the end”. Nelson Mandela endured prison for twenty-seven years so that he could become the president of South Africa and dismantle apartheid.
What are you doing with your time and freedom so that, like Mandela, you can the change the world, leave a great legacy and win the race?
We can no longer thank Mr. Mandela personally but we can follow his lead and find a worthy cause to give our lives to, to think of freedom and equality for everyone daily and resolve to never give up the race to make this world a better place than it was when we arrived.