Only a few of people will get to walk in the shoes of the legendary South African statesman Nelson Mandela, but the truth is, you will be hard-pressed to find one person who would opt to sit in jail for 27 years just to take a stand against a racist regime. All jokes aside, I don’t know if I can pull that off, but I know for certain that sitting spending a minute of my life in jail is not one of the things I aspire to, or be willing to endure. Today marks the 20th anniversary of Mandela’s release from prison, and fair to assume that this day will bring some of the most nauseating memories to the man as he recaps his life behind bars for his people’s cause. Convicted of treason in 1964 and handed a life sentence, Nelson Mandela stands in the minds of many as one of the icons of history who saw the light at the end of the tunnel long before the rest of us even knew we were in a tunnel. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for opposing South Africa's government, which enforced its strict segregation laws through brutality. If you ask me, his sacrifice of freedom is not even as extraordinary a story like the reconciliation work with F.W. de Klerk to end those same policies.
That is a remarkable sacrifice in many respects, foremost being that the fruits of which will be enjoyed by generations of Africans (and all global citizens) who would probably never know the true value of freedom.
20 years later, the entire world salutes the tenacity and foresight of a humanitarian visionary, in whose steps the rest of us will have to trail into an uncertain future. Nothing at all, no one can say Mandela did not hand us the recipe for a standing up for the social ills that wreck our humanity, and cripple our human nature to action. Maybe some of us will be bold enough to commit to the ideals we believe in, work with the little resources life have given us, and forge ahead in every day of our lives to make a difference in our world.
