The Arniston was an East Indiaman
But had been
requisitioned as a troopship
She was sailing from
Ceylon to England
To repatriate soldiers
wounded in the Kandyan Wars
When during a storm
near Cape Agulhas, South Africa
She was wrecked at
Waenhuiskrans on 30 May 1815
With only six
surviving of the 378 aboard
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
