RIP Nelson Mandela

(05-12-2013 22:09 )Trickster Wrote:  Greatest man to ever live R.I.P

Why? A great man yes, but the greatest?

RIP to a true legend who spent so many decades behind bars for fighting in what he believed in. A true inspiration to us all. South Africa would never have been the democratic country it is today if it hadn't been for him. Nelson Mandela will go in history as possibly the greatest and most important man of the 20th Century.

It only seems like yesterday when I watched his historic interview with Trevor McDonald on the day of his release. The news however doesn't really come as much of a surprise to me as I think we all knew it was coming as his health had seriously deteriorated over the past few years.

The word legend is an overused phrase used all too often these days in society but this man was a genuine legend and a hero to so many. Gone but not forgotten.

RIP Nelson Mandela. The world has a true believer in humanity, compassion and forgiveness and a very inspirational human being. I imagine Martin Luther King will be waiting for him. Tonight the world is a poorer place without his prescence.

Tonight is a night to celebrate and remember that it was this man who campaigned for racial equality in a time when anyone could have understood him being twisted and bitter and shook the hand of FW Klerk and said lets do this together. One of the great men over the last 100 years or soI imagine Martin Luther,Mother Teresa, JFK, Pope John Paul 2 and others will say to him when he arrives at the gates we did our bit lets chill now!!

A privilege that we shared the planet with him. RIP

RIP

(05-12-2013 23:19 )sweetsugar007 Wrote:  Tonight is a night to celebrate and remember that it was this man who campaigned for racial equality in a time when anyone could have understood him being twisted and bitter and shook the hand of FW Klerk and said lets do this together.

All true, but:

***in association with the South African Communist Party he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against government targets.***

He was also a terrorist in the vein of the IRA, whatever the justification of his actions, he was once a terrorist and therefore can never be considered 'the greatest human that ever lived'.

RIP Nelson Mandela.

Tweet from Gary Lineker

Some words from Barack Obama: "we have lost one of the most inspirational, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth."