Bless him. He's probably the man I most respect in the world. Having spent a lot of time in South Africa during apartheid, I hated the white supremacists and followed Mandela's incarceration as closely as I could and admired his stance. I read his autobiography: Long Walk to Freedom which moved me to tears with the grace and peace and forgiveness that he showed. And even when the regime were pleading with him to accept special privileges leading to freedom he stood firm for the principles of equality and freedom. Basically he sacrificed the best years of his life to achieve the chance for his people to be free of that awful yoke they lived under. And not only did they have to give in to him, he quite rightly became the first black president of his country. There is something very very special about him.
I was lucky enough to meet him once when he travelled on my aircraft from Johannesburg to London. I only had a brief chat to him but he was one of those people that give you their complete attention and speak to you as though you were the most important person to them at the time. He is one of three people that I have met and had such conversations with who emanate a presence, a warm gracious energy that makes you feel that they are very special. There was Mandela, Mother Teresa and Jackie Kennedy-Onassis.
Mandela is apparently relying on a machine to keep him alive but his family can't agree on when to turn it off.
Not many have achieved what he's done and when he passes I shall be watching his funeral and sending him all my respect.
And on a lighter note. There's a joke on Sickipedia at the moment. " My computer is taking so long to shut down that I've taken to calling it Nelson Mandela."
Ian
