02/23/2015
"I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being an optimist is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward."
—Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Former President of South Africa&
In 1993 Nelson Mandela and then-South African President F.W. de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their efforts to end apartheid (state-enforced racial discrimination and separation). The next year, at age 77, Mandela succeeded de Klerk as President of South Africa in the first free, democratic elections in South African history.
Mandela's journey to the top was long: Born in 1918, he had become actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement in his 20s, and for 20 years he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist apartheid policies. But eventually Mandela came to believe that armed resistance was necessary. He was convicted and imprisoned for 27 years (1964–1990) for his civil rights work.
While in prison, Mandela contracted tuberculosis and, as a black political prisoner, received the lowest level of treatment from prison workers. But while incarcerated, Mandela was able to earn a law degree through a University of London correspondence program. Many years of international pressure helped persuade the government to free Mandela in 1990. In 1994—the same year he was elected President—Mandela published his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, much of which he had secretly written while in prison.
Mandela honored his commitment to serve just one term as President. After he retired in 1999, he remained active, raising money to build schools and clinics in South Africa's rural areas through his Mandela Foundation, and serving as a mediator in Burundi's civil war. He also published several books about his life and his struggles for freedom. He died in 2013.
Mandela wrote: "To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. . . . I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve." Mandela reminds us:
"THE TIME IS ALWAYS RIPE TO DO RIGHT."
