101 Years for Mandela!

On this blog, we are passionate about the should-bes and shouldn't-bes of the Afrikan psyche. Here is a should-be:
1) Mandela spent many years in prison. Reason: some people couldn't tolerate the message that all people are equal,
2) He (and many others who had the same convictions) finally got portions of this message through,
3) He became the President of the Republic of South Africa, ascending to a very powerful political position;
Yet (and here are the critical should-bes!),
4) He never used the power for "othering" (and consequently excluding from the social life of South Afrika) the people at whose hands he and many others had suffered,
5) He never used the power for retaliation, despite the temptations!
6) He advocated for a collective identity of all South Afrikans, the black, and the white, colourless, yellow, pink, indigo, grey, orange, cyan, etc,
7) He has remained faithful to one of the highest Afrocentric ideals: "I am because we are, and because we are, therefore I am."

For being such a good model, Mandela deserves appreciation. The 90 years he has been around our village have been a blessing. We ask our ancestors to bless us with a 101 years for Mandela! His lessons on Afrocentric living are far from over....