SA reads discussion

Part 10 (sorry it's so late)

Blog post for Week 8: ALL WE NEED IS A MIRACLE
http://www.johnmountford.com/blog/

I think it's been raised over and over how charismatic, intelligent, empathic and morally upright Mandela was. There have been people with some of his qualities in history, but how do we know that they could have achieved what he did. Our experiences and environment shape our raw biological material; I have no doubt that Mandela would have been great without the struggle. But his innate qualities were honed by his environment into something amazing. I don't think that we could expect two peope to behave the same in a situation.

On another note, the scene in Pollsmoor with Winnie and Zenzie brought me to tears. So sad, yet so victorious too.

One of Mandela's warders at Victor Verster Prison, WO Brand, took Mandela to meet his wife and children on one of their 'sightseeing' trips. Mandela sent the children Christmas cards every year after that.
This was the magic of the man - his ability to care about people enough to pay attention, without fail, to the small things.
I have noticed that great sportsmen always seem to have more than enough time to carry out their plays - they are never rushed or frantic in their execution. It is the same with great people - they always seem to have the time to pay attention to the small, but meaningful, things around them. Mandela was such a person.

He obviously enjoyed his gardening. I doubt whether he had any time after his release to water as much as a pot plant.

It's amazing to realize how much responsibility he took on during the early negotiations where he had to hope that whatever he did would be acceptable to the ANC since he had very little direct communications with them.

I think that although he was a worker for all people, he never lost sight of the individual; he saw each and every person clearly and... personally! I wonder if this quality isn't what made him go on even when things would have seen hopeless to most men. He could see that if he made just one life better, he was winning.

John wrote: "One of Mandela's warders at Victor Verster Prison, WO Brand, took Mandela to meet his wife and children on one of their 'sightseeing' trips. Mandela sent the children Christmas cards every year aft..."

I see this warder has a book out on his experience with Mandela (or I think it's him, based on the surname).

Carolien wrote: "John wrote: "One of Mandela's warders at Victor Verster Prison, WO Brand, took Mandela to meet his wife and children on one of their 'sightseeing' trips. Mandela sent the children Christmas cards e..."

Thanks for the heads-up on that, Carolien. Yes, I noticed it on the shelves at Exclusive Books over the week-end. It's on my to-buy list...so many books to read.

The never ending TBR pile. So many interesting books to read. That's one reason that I refuse to read books which I don't enjoy. They take up valuable time which I want to spend on other books!

Carolien wrote: "John wrote: "One of Mandela's warders at Victor Verster Prison, WO Brand, took Mandela to meet his wife and children on one of their 'sightseeing' trips. Mandela sent the children Christmas cards e..."

I'm sure I heard him on the radio last December.