By Khadija Sabiri
Rabat - Nelson Mandela, the reality and the legend; the fighter for freedom and the eradication of slavery.
These adjectives do not do adequately describe the life of this great icon of humanity who taught and still teaches the whole world what it really means to be human. Mandela is the pride of black and white people, the manifestation even of God’s values on the earth. I write these few words in my turn, as thousands of other writers, in tribute to the life and the teaching ofNelson Mandela.
Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, a Nobel Prize winner and anti-Apartheid icon, died on Thursday at his home in Johannesburg at the age of 95. Although many have once been heads of a nation, few have left their trace on history the way Mandela has, and even fewer were loved by nations. However, history will remember Mandela as one of the greatest men who ever lived, a humble man who sacrificed so much to rewrite and reshape the course of history of for black people all over the world.
Many people around the world have been inspired by his famous sayings and have followed them in their daily activities. I would like to share with you some of his most famous words of wisdom:
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
It always seems impossible until it is done.
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lies defeat and death.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
Although Nelson Mandela is dead and speaks no more, he has left his words of wisdom, and we should take them into consideration.