Who can ever claim to know another person?  Who can separate the myth, fiction and fact from Mandela's story.  These are a few of the things I know about Mandela.

1.     Mandela allowed a nation that had been smothered under shame for decades to step out proudly into the light and shine with pride.

2.     For a short, magical period he made South Africans feel they were living in the greatest, most exciting democracy in the world; and they were.

3.     During the first few years of Mandela’s release there was a time when Mandela and the South African nation were as one. Mandela was South Africa and South Africa was Mandela. A perfect fit with neither partner wishing this arrangement to ever end.

4.     Mandela allowed millions of non-south Africans others around the world to believe, perhaps self-indulgently, that he was their leader too.

5.     Mandela inspired many people of colour with Britain who felt unrepresented within the class ridden British political to systems to enter politics and fight for change from within. 

6.     Mandela’s visit to London inspired thousands of black Britons who felt they were second class citizens within England and lacked vital paternal support and leadership within their own homes that circumstance does not dictate character.

7.     Mandela inspired millions of angry young black men in South Africa and around the world, including myself, to be better versions of ourselves. 

8.     I know that Nelson Mandela made a believer out of me. 

I look forward to discovering and being inspired by the next Nelson Mandela.

I’m not sure I’ll live that long.

Hopefully, my children will.