April 27, 1994--this date has never meant anything to me. I was in the 8th grade (some of you chuckle), and I was concerned about important things like high jumping, girl friends, and the season finale of the 4th season of the best show that has ever aired on television--The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
I have just completed the most captivating autobiography that I have laid my lands on--Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom." The date of April 27, 1994 will forever be etched into my memory. On that day, in South Africa, the first free election in South Africa's history was held. Mandela and Tutu describe the day as the first time many Blacks truly felt like they were human. Centuries of apartheid came to an end. Whites and Blacks stood in the same line together. They shared sandwiches. They conversed. They stood under the same umbrellas. The Blacks felt equally human. The lenses that had tainted the eyes of the Whites had been stripped off.
Mandela was the driving force behind this push for equality. Nothing could hold him down. Twenty-Seven years in prison couldn't kill his dreams. He was a man with a mission, or should we say, a mission had captured him.
(More to come later)
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2 comments:
Being a golf fan, I find it interesting that Gary Player was deeply involved in bringing an end to aparteid long before that was "fashionable." One year (it seems like it was in the early 70s), he wore pants at the British Open that were white on one leg and black on the other.
He has won many humanitarian awards for his work in bringing an end to racial discrimination in South Africa, as well as education to the poor. I wish I had known more about his work during his prime, but the press did not cover it much.
His favorite book: The Bible. I think he would have been one of my favorites if I had known all that.
It is always amazing to me how one person can really make a difference in another person's life. In Nelson Mandela's case, he changed not only his nation but the world.
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