(Credit: L.A. Times)
“Schoolchildren and celebrities sang ‘Happy Birthday Madiba,’ as South Africans affectionately call the former leader, using his clan name. Millions of South Africans donated 67 minutes of their time to public service, one minute for each of the years he dedicated his life to service.
“Tributes poured in from around the world, while the Internet in South Africa lit up with birthday messages for Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime and emerged to become president in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.”
The rest of the article is here.
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Invictus, the poem which help keep N. Mandela survive his long imprisonment–and a great movie.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of fate
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Nelson Mandela is an international hero. His power didn’t come from his political office but rather the other way around. Much like Desmond Tutu, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi his power came from his struggles, sacrifices, and the strength of his convictions. There are thousands if not millions of people on the planet who are doing great things without any traditional power and they are the true leaders of the world.
Happy Birthday Mr. Mandela and we hope you have many more.