Mandela

"I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul."

It is a sad fact that even the best and the brightest of us are going to die.  Yesterday we lost one of the best men of the modern age.

I will not say that Nelson Mandela was perfect for he was not. He was human like the rest of us. It has been said that it is a shame that he didn't manage his family as well as he did his country but there again the same charge could be levelled at Gandhi.  Unfortunately great works in the service of mankind take their toil and it is often the family who suffer.

That a side without him the world is a slightly darker place and we mourn a great statesman who's example of forgiveness saved the soul of a nation.  The end of apartheid could have resulted in the same blood and fury that has marred the modern history of Ireland.  It is a great relief to my soul that the land of my great grandparents is finally letting go of the hatred that has torn it's people apart.

South Africa could have gone the same way.  Lets face it, Nelson's people would have almost been justified if they had told the white people where to get off.  However, instead of taking his people down the road of vengeance and retribution, Nelson Mandela encouraged them to take the path of reconciliation.  Though the Residents that have followed him into office have quite lived up to his example, he laid a fountain that can't be removed from history.
Tributes have been pouring in from all corners of the globe today but I would say his greatest tribute is the peaceful South Africa that exists today.  That is what people will remember in a century's time.

"I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul."