We, in the modern era, have not had very many instantly-recognizable, world-class heroes walking among us.  Some thought of John F. Kennedy that way, but he wasn’t around all that long.  Nelson Mandela, though, was such a one as Gandhi, or “Abdu’l-Baha, ever walking the path of love and service.  His life was suitably long, 95 years, though a few more, had he been up to it, would have suited me just fine.

In the darkest days of his imprisonment, of the worst apartheid that the neo-Nazis among the Afrikaners and British-South Africans, alike, could muster, Madiba saw the future.  He knew that tribalism would still cause problems among the Black majority, that there would be corruption, some of it within his own ANC, after apartheid was gone. Yet he knew that the first and most important thing was for all to be free:  The Whites, Asians and Coloureds had to have the same rights as the Zulus, Xhosas and other tribes of the majority populace.  This led him to work with DeKlerk, with the Zulu chiefs-even with his harshest critic, Treuernicht.  There was no community left outside his vision.

Nelson transcended so much, in 95 years.  His personal life was largely that of a well-educated, cultured African traditionalist, that of a patriarch- though a benevolent one.  His life of service, though, reflected a vision that transcends centuries.  His  South Africa remains a work in progress, and the principals of the dismantling of apartheid are now all gone.  It is up to  seemingly lesser people to carry the vision forward.  Madiba would probably say, though, that there will be future Nelson Mandelas, that the people of the next several centuries will each have their heroes, their larger-than-life figures.  I am sure that’s so, and it will be among his greatest legacies, as his life was part of Gandhi’s legacy, and Gandhi’s was part of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s legacy, and so on, back as far as we can look.

A good friend said, earlier today, that each human being should be able to strive for the greatest heights he or she are capable of achieving.  I believe that, as well.  No matter where one lives, in this world, or in the Universe, Nelson Mandela, like all the great heroes and heroines, has shown us how we may make our marks.  May he enjoy limitless blessings in the World of the Spirit.