Honoring President Nelson Mandela’s Passing as the World Mourns, December 5, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #479)

This man of peace healed his nation of South Africa–and he was an example of courage, conviction, and conscience to us all. Peoples around the world mourn his passing today. Rest in peace, President Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013).

(Image right Chicago Tribune; Reuters, February 7, 1987, image gallery)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-nelson-mandela-dead-20131205,0,6266118.story

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25249520

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-12-06-nelson-mandela-foundation-no-words-to-express-this-loss

And celebrating some of the music of Africa, a hymnlike song from LadySmith Black Mambazo:

A history of Nelson Mandela is found here.

Esteemed American Actor Morgan Freeman reading “Invictus”, a poem that is said to have inspired President Mandela when he was imprisoned for 27 years for fighting against apartheid (poem shared by Street of Dreams blog, that was pointed to me by the Swooning Maruca blog):

“Invictus poem – Mandela/William Ernest Henley”, a video by onelineup

And the text of the poem, Invictus, by William Ernest Henley as found at The Poetry Foundation:

Invictus  by William Ernest Henley

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 chance
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.

And finally, in President Nelson Mandela’s own words–as a man of vision, dedication, and humor:

“Nelson Mandela Congressional Gold Medal Speech” a video by Educational Video Group

Transcript of the September 23, 1998 event conferring the Congressional Medal of Honor to President Nelson Mandela, including President Mandela’s full remarks in the video above.