The time for the healing of the wounds has come.
The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.
The time to build is upon us.

~Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Speech, May 10, 1994

I was Seattle-bound late afternoon and listening to news for the first time on NPR, when I heard that Nelson Mandela had passed. And what went through my mind as I listened to the reports offered by NPR journalists positioned about the globe?

27 years he was imprisoned and that did not kill his spirit and drive to exist as a free man.

He remembered fondly his childhood “filled with joyful times” growing up in the African plains, herding livestock; and his loving mother.

He was educated by missionaries which paved the way for him to become the statesman he became–after many years a prisoner of the very African nation he would one day lead.

He himself said he was no saint and acknowledged he had a temper–and one close to him said it was a temper you didn’t want to be in front of.

And, his capacity for championing human rights, compassion for others, freedom and equality MUST have been grounded in having a Healthy Sense of Self. For you never gave up the idea did you, that your very existence was a gift in itself?! Did you?

Your legacy lives on in all the wisdom you channeled and shared.

Rest in peace, Tata Madibe.

*****

May the young of our present generation come to understand what it means to always carry within a Healthy Sense of Self–that they have what it takes to live their life to its fullest potential.