Today, as the world woke up to the shock that was Nelson Mandela’s passing many South Africans felt an array of emotions. I personally first experienced denial which was quickly dispelled by beautiful words spoken by US President Barak Obama. Shock and sadness were my next reactions and as I sat in front of my TV I thought, “What did this man mean to me?”
I am a fortunate child. One who schooled in the post-apartheid era. My classmates colour was irrelevant. All that mattered was getting an education. In primary school, oblivious to the fight that was fought to allow me to sit in a classroom taught by whites alongside black and white children, I as an Indian grew. Education, the key to my future, the platform of my success was born from this fight fought by giants who envisioned a brighter future for me. This I owe to a man named Nelson Mandela, and his brothers and sisters who fought alongside him.
Growing up in Durban I was never treated differently. White people enjoyed our food and company. Black people played and laughed with us. There was no division in our Durban. We were treated fairly and given equal opportunity. Those who thrived at sport were put on teams that were not limited by colour quotas and racism. Our school was excellent at recognising talent, not colour, just pure talent. Our hockey team was brilliant and such a rainbow of colour. We excelled in academics with a mixture of students attaining positions that enabled them to speak out for children’s rights and fight for their own generation. Who knew just a few years before that colour bound the opportunities of generations. Now we play freely, in the assurance that generations to come will be treated with one standard and painted with one brush, a brush that paints us all green, blue, red, black, white and yellow.
Now as I work at my desk daily in a company that was so strongly dominated by white rule, and earn a salary as competitive as the next man. I sit and think, “My life is surreal”. I work in a field I love for a company I love. Strong and stable. Proudly South African, this company has become a world leader. How would this have been possible, if not for the shoulders of giants which carried it through? Both the company, my peers, and myself would never have had the opportunity to make an impact if we were shackled by a quota system that rejected talented, world-changing, individuals before us.
What does Nelson Mandela mean to me? His life means my freedom. His life embodies my choices and opportunities. I live where I live because I am free to do so. I am free to do so because of a man who stayed imprisoned for a cause he may have died for. A cause which was MY LIFE, MY DIGNITY! The man Nelson Mandela, is not just merely an anti-apartheid fighter. He was a man that brought about restoration and change. A dark and often violent path fought, not for himself, but for his seed. For every South Africans seed. This is a man who taught through his actions not just eloquent language and jazzed up speeches which ended at the podium. This was a man who looked his oppressors in the eye and chose to say “We will not do to you, what you have done to us”. Madiba, a man who understood that inclusion was better than “payback” and that an eye-for-an-eye is not the answer. This was a man who chose to give freedom to all and not limit it to any race or creed. Mandela embodied humility as he always shared the credit of his success with his fellow comrades, Tambo, Sisulu, Mbeki and many others who joined in the fight for our freedom. To me, like the rest of the nation, I have gained because of your life. We are blessed to have been lead fearlessly into freedom by you. Goodnight good soldier. Your legend will forever live on.
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