A pause for Madiba

Madiba is no more.

I am deeply calm. I don't know this feeling or the lack of it. I don't know if I should be happy or sad.

Happy for being born into a nation where I am not a slave, I am free to wake up on my own time, eat, rest, work, learn and raise a family. Where I am glad to know that my kid has a future. Sad because the man who fought all his life, like the Mahatma, is a nation where he was jailed but loved is no more.

And then I am super happy that his struggle is over and he emerged a winner. I am erupting with a joyous emotion of achievement where the world is not looking down on people anymore, the leaders need not be celebrated men of great valour, lineage but the common man like you and me.

This is a time of joy for one of the greatest sons of the soil went home to meet his father, to a place where there is no partiality, no injustice and absolute equality.

Rest in peace Madiba. You have fought well and won.

Pic is from here.

Long Walk to Freedom

Journeys are often measured by distance travelled and time elapsed. But by which unit of measurement should one measure the journey of Nelson Mandela, from political prisoner to South Africa's first black President?

As a young man, Mandela became disenchanted with non-violence as a form of political protest, and, in 1961, he co-founded the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). The militant group coordinated a sabotage campaign against South African military and government targets, and even considered all-out guerrilla warfare should Apartheid not be lifted.

But, after being condemned to life imprisonment in 1964 and branded a terrorist, he saw the ultimate fruitlessness of using violent means to achieve peaceful ends. According to Mandela himself, Mahatma Gandhi became a major source of inspiration, and he soon inculcated the core tenets of satyagraha (the philosophy of non-violence).

Following his release from prison in 1990, this marked change in temperament allowed Mendela to pursue a policy of reconciliation and negotiation, rather than secession and violence. Ultimately, he became South Africa's first black President and helped the nation transition from a brutal, segregated sham-republic to a flourishing, multi-racial democracy. For his efforts, in 1993, Mandela would win what is arguably the world's most prestigious honour: the Nobel Peace Prize.

Today, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, we salute both the man and his Long Walk to Freedom.

Tiger salutes one of the few people who mastered 'Consumer Psyche'.

Source
Pic