What Each One of Us Can Learn from Nelson Mandela

What each ONE of us can Learn from Nelson Mandela (Madiba)Thoughts from my Wordpress blog at www.mandelamadiba.wordpress.com "Thank you, God for Madiba. To know him is to know what we can one day be... and become."- the words of Desmond Tutu"What we are is God's gift to us, what we become is our gift to God"High Flight"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earthAnd danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirthOf sun-split clouds - and...
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What each ONE of us can Learn from Nelson Mandela (Madiba)Thoughts from my Wordpress blog at www.mandelamadiba.wordpress.com "Thank you, God for Madiba. To know him is to know what we can one day be... and become."- the words of Desmond Tutu"What we are is God's gift to us, what we become is our gift to God"High Flight"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earthAnd danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirthOf sun-split clouds - and done a hundred thingsYou have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swungHigh in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring thereI've chased the shouting wind along, and flungMy eager craft through footless halls of air.Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,I've topped the windswept heights with easy graceWhere never lark, or even eagle flew -And, while with silent lifting mind I've trodThe high untresspassed sanctity of space,Put out my hand and touched the face of God."- Pilot Officer Gillespie MageeNo 412 squadron, RCAFKilled 11 December 1941 "After climbing a great hill, one finds that there are many more mountains to climb.""It always seems impossible...Until it gets done."- Nelson Mandela"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.We ask ourselves, 'who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'Actually, who are you not to be?You are a child of God.Your playing small does not serve the world.There is nothing enlightened about shrinking;so that other people won't feel insecure around you.We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.And as we let our own light shine,we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.As we are liberated from our own fear,our presence automatically liberates others."- Marianne WilliamsonI love these words from Marianne Williamson as used by Nelson Mandela in his inaugeration speech as State President at South Africa's first Democratic Election in 1994. Madiba, your immense nobility and generosity of spirit lives on...forever "You humbly bestrode the earth like a colossus of reconciliation. Madiba, you soared across the heavens, like a comet leaving us to follow the streaks and giving each one of us a flicker of hope in a very disunited, divided world."People all over the world see in Nelson Mandela hope for the future: "From seeds of hope to endless possibilities").We live in a community and it's being part of a community that makes us human.Madiba's message was change through struggle. He was there to serve his people. He made us question how can we better conduct our own lives? It's how I change... for the better.You do things for yourself; however you only realise your humanity when you are doing things for others. What can I do for others? And that is I how I realise MY humanityThere is a Madiba sitting in every ONE of us!!...'?"YOU be the change you wish to see in others. Then in changing YOUR world you help change THE world... for the better" -Mohandas GandhiIn building a nation it's up to us to find a unity of purpose, in spite of our differences.Be proud of your heritage and celebrate it. Yet know that we all united in a common humanity."There is neither Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Pedi. Afrikaner, boer, "rooinek", Coloured or Indian, male or female. There is only a God-filled humanity.""Whilst we can (and should) celebrate our differences, let not our varying beliefs divide us, but let the Spirit of our shared humanity define and unite us."He has ascended to the stars. Madiba has become a lode-star to guide us...and so make a better world... and make each one of us better people.South Africa's journey is the world's journey. Madiba's journey on earth may have ended, but the challenge of the world remains - to follow Madiba's legacy, human-kind's march to...