On the occasion of Nelson Mandela’s birthday, I would like to highlight a lesson I have learned from him and his life.

There is no doubt, Mandela, world-wide, is the official icon of democracy and the struggle to overcome oppression. One of his chief characteristics, which people like Bill Clinton have pointed out and Nelson Mandela himself is that he is just a human being, an ordinary person like all of us who was placed in an extraordinary situation.

I firmly believe that at some point in anyone’s life we all will come face to face with a situation which can only be described as extraordinary. Mandela’s situation had garnered the attention of the world and hence his actions, and his underlying values, were pushed into the limelight as he struggled with his friends to overcome Apartheid. These extraordinary situations which we will face in our lives expose us for who we really are, and whether people are watching or not, the ultimate lesson will be for ourselves alone.

Whatever the truth is about ourselves, it is us, ultimately, who have to live with that truth. What do we really stand for? It is in this particular situation in which we have seen Nelson Mandela, even after 27 years in incarceration, stand up for what he has firmly believed all his life. Unwavering. I guess truth is like that, it has the effect of bubbling up to the surface and overcoming falsehoods which many try to portray. Human nature is inclined toward Truth and the lesson from Mandela is that we need to live to find that truth within ourselves and fight with our voices and our hands all forms of oppression and un-truths until we succeed or die.

It is a fact of life and history that many others who have fought for similar causes to that of Mandela had known that death was always “just around the corner”. Some of them have even met death during their struggle, and of them, some we know and some have been silenced from the annals of history. But their lesson, and the lesson of Mandela will always remain.

I hope we all learn from this and take this to our hearts so that we find our own truth, which will ring through our entire being and help us overcome whatever obstacles we may face.

This is the lesson I have learnt.

Happy Birthday Madiba! May you have many years more to inspire us all.