You don’t have to be Nelson Mandela to embrace your light.

He was an ordinary man who realized the strength of human mind. He became an example of how to “become somebody from nobody”, you need patience and perseverance of mammoth proportions.

An example of how never to lose sight of your goal. And of course, tribulations you might have to go throw to hold a belief beyond measure.

Mandela, named Rolihlahla by his father, meaning ‘trouble maker‘ in Xhosa, tormented the colonial government in truest sense. He took up the English name, their Methodist faith and mastered their law, with the sole aim of freeing his people of the baseless racism.

He became a man of law and fought for what he believed justice was. But what moves me is his kind heart, that was ready to condone his enemy even after decades of imprisonment.

Would Nelson Mandela have spent 27 years in prison if he had access to the same technology & social media platforms as we do today?

Our Madiba, Nelson Mandela, wasn’t a human. He was a message. He was a believer of humanity. They imprisoned him because he had radical thoughts. His message took time to reach the masses. He might be dead now. BUT HIS MESSAGE LIVES WITH US.

Though he is known and will be remembered as an activist, I think of him as an Artist. An Artist of life. Pablo Picasso once said, to be able to break rules like an artist, you first need to learn them like a pro. And that’s what Mandela did – he learnt their rules only to outplay them later.

“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. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

The aforesaid words are an excerpt of what he uttered during his trial at the South African courtroom.

The trial was for his accusation for plotting to overthrow the then apartheid all-white government.

It takes not an ordinary man, but a comprehensive patriot like Nelson Mandela to display potency to its extreme ends. The one fact of Mandela that moves me the most is that albeit in jail, his motive to fight for his countrymen never diminished. No barrier. Even if it took him to sabotage the laws of the ruling government.

Post his release from conviction, reconciliation was thoroughly practiced by him.

Nelson Mandela’s life could be personified off a real-time anecdote moralizing, that the path reaching your aspirations will never be a bed of roses. While working in a lime quarry on Robben Island, in a prison in Cape Town harbour, the scorching sun on the white stone caused permanent damage to Nelson’s eyes. He got Tuberculosis in Pollsmoor jail, outside Cape Town. He was diagnosed with Prostate cancer in 2001.

But during all this while, there was one thing consistent with the legend. His Consistency. Consistency to Fight for his own rights. Rights of the people of his land. Nothing in the name of opposition could stop him.

“I was born after he became president and I just remember the South Africa he left to us, the South Africa he gave to us”

Such are the words, the people he dedicated his life for, got to bestow him with. Honor him with. After his eternal demise. For legends never die. The above statement flanked by double quotes on either sides is spoken off a mourner at Mandela’s residence at Johannesburg’s northern suburb of Houghton where he died.

No matter wherever you are and no matter whatever you do, just remember – you could either choose to ignore this day as news or it is now in your hands to continue his legacy and do the right thing for our community.

Why not leave your mark by doing a good self less deed today?