Thank you, Madiba

The world weeps. One of the brightest lights has gone out of our lives. A colossus of a man with a colossal heart is no more; all we can do now is try to hold on forever to a hero and an emblem of dignity who vanished into time but not before teaching us the power of forgiveness and reconciliation.

It’s not often that you come across ordinary men who do extraordinary things and yet remind us that they are not above the failings, frustrations and disappointments the vast majority of us go through in our daily grind called life.

Nelson Mandela is the closest to a heroic public figure in recent memory who refused to let his spirit be crushed even under the most excruciatingly painful circumstances, and yet told us through his life that he was human as a human gets.

“Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.” Mandela was dedicated and passionate to the cause he believed in: A democratic and non-racial South Africa.

But even in the thick of adulation, Mandela never built around himself the aura of a super-human who could do no wrong. And that’s what makes his life a lesson worth emulating.

He spent 18 years in solitary confinement after being charged with treason. But he was not a criminal. “I was made by the law a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I thought I stood for, because of what I thought.”

Every day, millions go through equally soul-crushing circumstances. For some the issues are real, for others they are make-believe. Some wallow in self-pity, others wear the crown of the invincible hero. Some refuse to see hope, others refuse to see another’s perspective.

Mandela saw hope and perspective; and Mandela never put himself down as a hapless victim or projected himself as an unwitting hero. He was real, as real as any idealist could ever be.

It’s not easy for someone to live in solitary confinement or be asked to crush stones every day for years together and yet stay sane.

That Mandela suffered mental and physical hardships, and still weathered them all, shows the indomitable triumph of the human will when one commits oneself to a cause.

For those who think where is a cause we can believe in, Mandela’s life gives an answer, much like Mahatma Gandhi did: “You can be the change you wish to see in the world.” And that change can begin right at home or your neighbourhood. Big things, as Mandela showed us, start with a small step that begins in your heart.

Mandela has written extensively about how the dark days of his life had clouded his mind, days when he felt he could handle it no more, days and nights when he was tormented by self-doubt…yet, his spirit shone through, and that is what we learn from the man.

He didn’t resort to catchphrases and slogans. He didn’t make platitude his middle name. And, most importantly, he wasn’t Utopian in his dreams. He fought for the cause of humanity, his people, his community and his country. It was an ideal that he was prepared to die for.

It’s impossible to think that he harboured grand illusions of fame. Which is why he could step back from the corridors of power and go about doing what he believed was his responsibility to his fellow-beings with a passion that inspired — and will continue to inspire — millions of people around the world. While fighting apartheid was what made Mandela a household name and a voice of hope for millions crushed under the weight of racism and casteism, it was the spirit of reconciliation that he upheld which makes him an inspirational hero.

As his peer and fellow campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu observed: “He was not only an amazing gift to humankind, he made South Africans and Africans feel good about being who we are. He made us walk tall.”

That, perhaps, is the strongest legacy of Mandela: He made people feel good about what they are, not what they could have been or what they are not.

He instilled a genuine feeling of self-worth and gave them the courage to forgive the cruelty of others. He taught people to forgive. He taught them to reconcile. He taught them to live together.

In time, the hardships he suffered and the pain he endured might be less discussed beyond classrooms and memorial lectures.

But the message of his life that he “would not and could not give … up to despair” and that “the greatest glory in living lies not in never falling but in rising every time we fall” will forever ring true.

Mandela has now taken that long walk to real freedom.

Along the way, he also freed people of their fears and self-doubt, and taught them to love.

It would be a pity if in the din of empty slogans and clichéd promises we shackle ourselves once again, forgetting that a man once walked amongst us and showed us the value of the simple things in life: Love, tolerance and forgiveness.

patrick@khaleejtimes.com