Mandela, the father of a nation!

[Trithor]

Our first truely elected President is in hospital, and has been for more than a week now. A little over a week ago Madiba, 'our father' (Mandela) was admitted to hospital for a recurring lung infection. Although media reports suggest that he is improving, I cant help but think that there is an element of doom. Tomorrow is a very important public holiday in South Africa, a day which commemerates the riots in Soweto in 1976. It was on June 16 in 1976 when an inexperienced police force panicked and opened fire on a rioting crowd of predominantly youths and resulted in a large and very regretable loss of life. The day is remembered as 'Youth Day', a very dark and yet poignant day in South Africa.
Yesterday our current president visited Madiba in hospital, on the surface to wish him well, but I cant help think there is more to the visit than 'meets the eye'. The proximity to Youth Day, and the lack of real information makes me think that there is an announcement going to be made tomorrow. I suspect 'our father' is on life support till tomorrow and then we will be given very sad news.
Tonight I will light a candle and hope that my suspicions are ill founded and that I will be feeling very silly in the morning.
Madiba, my thoughts are with you tonight and you are in my prayers!

 

[Rick]

I agree he is truly a great man and leader.

Tomorrow is Fathers Day, and he should be remembered as a great father.

It's ironic that another father in my life is in the hospital with severe lung infections (and doesn't look hopeful). My daughter in law's father was just put into an induced coma.

So hopefully Fathers Day will bring some good news if not good blessings for all fathers.

At least I had good news. The "can't do anything more" decree was a false alarm, and they didn't induce coma. He's still in ICU, but conscious (on and off).

 

[Secundino]

My thoughts are with Mandela, too. A great man.

 

[SlipperFan]

@Trithor -- yes, Mandela is a very great man. There are few with greater stature that he. Would that we could all be like him.

Rick, my thoughts are with you, also. It must be a difficult time for your family.

 

[2Toned]

Trithor,

Madiba holds a very special place in my heart, as well. His statemanship, consistency of character and personal sacrifice are beacons on my personal journey. The latter two characteristics also being exemplified by my father, a quiet man, who, as an half aborigine, has negotiated his own path through an Australia that many refuse to see, yet he refuses to judge.

Being partly indigenous, Madiba's proclamation: "...a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world" resonates deeply within me. And evokes the reality of our shared roots. Though an ocean, a continent and millenia lay between us, the bonds that wend, weave and enjoin us - like the Rainbow Serpent itself - are written in language we all understand when we reflect on what it is to be an individual - no more than a scale on the body of the Creator. Or a sutble shade of colour radiating imperceptibly from the spectrum in his wake.

At 94 this shining example of Humanity's potential deserves "the peace" that awaits him. Don't hold onto him, but his dream! To do otherwise is trying to catch a rainbow.

Sincerely

2Toned

 

[abax]

President Mandela is the kind of human being we should all try to emulate.
Considering all he has been through in his life, I have been continually
amazed that by sheer willpower he has lived so long and been so productive. His legacy will live on.

 

[Trithor]

As a Dutch immigrant in the pre-Mandela years I felt we were a sepparate community. In fact the whole of South Africa was an collection of sepparate peoples. They got along better than what news reports seemed to suggest, but remained sepparate. It was only under Mandela that the people of South Africa finaly came to look at themselves as 'South Africans', one nation. The transformation in the countrys' perception of itself was incredible. I fear that a lot of this will be lost with his passing, and that socially the country will regress by decades. This saddens me as I have come to love Africa and when I return 'home' periodicaly, I find I am no longer certain where home is.