Respecting Mandela

People have united for the event but there are other thoughts concerning the event

People were united for the celebrations but the point was to honor the man. Now the man could have had a quieter event but the people decided on doing something on the grand scale> I suppose the family would have been happy just as well to have a quieter event but I am living on the other side of the world. It would be too easy to pass some judgement an say he should have been honored one way or another. There has been some talk of the fact that a lot of could have been dedicated to his voting base instead of toting of giving priority to world leaders and notables many of which just came around to have their pictures taken in association of the event, after all he had humble beginnings and would have preferred to have less limelight than was given.

I wonder whether people will actually be there to honor the man rather than to be seen. I might be criticized for being pessimistic but feel that being in the public eye for certain politicians is a much more commanding influence than just to be there for the event. I wonder why people like the the Israeli leader did not show up but realize that his security might be in question. Why the Dalai Lama did not arrive is pitiable especially when he is so busy toting his own cause for freedom of thought and liberation from the politics of the central regime.

That there should be so many world leaders in one place is a once in a lifetime deal, still one may argue about the significance if the majority are there to be in a photo shoot and look good. Obama took the time to be in a photo that has gone viral next to pretty Danish leader. Was that necessary when he arrived to pay his respects to a deceased man? I supposed the answer is all in the way we see it fit to honor the dead and if Mandela wanted a joyous event then he must have been satisfied. His wife apparently did not think that the photo take was in taken good taste; at least that is what the onlooker appeared to have captured and posted on social media. Others too might have taken the event to be out of place, Then again what about Campbell the former prime minister dancing in the stands? She was just just taken up in the festive moment. One may wear black at a wake but that doesn't mean you have to accompany that with dark and depressing thoughts.

So what do I think of all the fuss? That that man still shines way above the crowd of people who came to revere him. That he chose the ways of the white rulers in order to achieve his means can be argued however why choose continued struggle after years of hardship his people had already faced. At least they were able to benefit from some means of modernization where there was none and live in a more dignified manner. So the people in his township now have electricity and running water where they had none and that is what to be merited this day and age when certain other leaders are busy making wars for their own personal benefit and greed. Those leaders already know who they are and perhaps they will change as a result of the mass celebrate and wake. I do doubt it much as I doubt there will be another person who in my lifetime will spend 27 years in prison then to turn his cheek to the people who kept him there. Maybe they can still learn from the life of Mandela and work for lasting peace instead of instigated conflicts.

Mention should be made about the man's reaction to his former wife even though he has passed ans with all respect to his choices. He is no saint as he admitted and so might well have had misgivings about separating from her for one transgression when he was busy forgiving the whites that kept him in prison for years. There could have been room for more sympathy there as he was even more sympathetic to the ones who cut a large part of his life away from his family. Sadly I suspect that this is a repeated theme even among other greats like Gandhi who was said to have shortchanged his family too when it came to fighting for his cause. On behalf of Winnie one might argue did not have her affair right Mandela was imprisoned but after many years and so could have been seen to be entitled to some form of normalcy in her life. But such was not the case for someone who was his voice piece and kept alive the cause of Mandela for many years while he was secluded. That alone should have been the card for forgiveness as far as I am concerned.