MANDELA

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it that he opposed apartheid?

So what?

He wasn’t alone in that

That doesn’t make him great

That would make half the world great

         

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it that he led the ANC’s military wing?

So what?

Not really the stuff of greatness

Just another bloody terrorist

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it his twenty-seven years in jail?

So what?

Murder and rape will achieve that

That doesn’t make him great

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it that he symbolized the struggle?

A beacon against apartheid

So what?

That doesn’t make him great

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Is it that he’s a nice silver haired old man?

With a warm affable smile

So what?

That could be my granddad

 

What makes him a great man?

Was it that he was the first black president?

Of a free South Africa

Very historic

But that alone doesn’t make him great

 

What makes Mandela a great man

Is his humility

His humanity

He could have spoken in vengeance

Yet he spoke of reconciliation

He could have evened the score

Balanced the books

For black South Africa

He could have unleashed

A black tide of death and destruction

Upon the white minority

Pay back

But he did not

Instead, he spoke forgiveness

He could have been a Mugabe

And never relinquished power

But chose to serve only one term

Then handed on the baton

His work was done

His greatness set in stone