mandela and moving forward

there aren't enough words or phrases that can be strung together to express the immense legacy that nelson madela left behind. there's not enough obituaries you could read to get the full message of just how impressive of a human being mandela was. but it is important that we try. and although death is always a bitter thing, it's oddly comforting to see and hear positive words that either mandela himself said or positive words about his life coming from all angles. it seems that a large portion of the human population can agree, nelson mandela is a big deal.

but can we carry that legacy with us? i don't think it's good enough to be mindful of important life lessons he imparted on us for just a week and then forget about it. although mourning is a process that sorta ends at some point, there's some things we need to carry on with us long after the mourning process is over. it's not enough to just be sad about this for a few days. that's not going to change the world.

the assumption is that most people who consider themselves fans of nelson mandela are also fans of changing the world for the better. if we could put the debate on how to make these changes happen aside for just a second, the important part is to reach a place where we realize millions of people are on the same page. millions of people stand for equality and human decency. we need to say this out loud, to each other, in unison. it's not enough to just give it a thought and then return yourself to the regularly scheduled program.

this (changing the world for the better) needs to be the regularly scheduled program. for some it is, but for most it's not. it's not enough to validate mandela's life work by giving it an 'a' plus in your book. true validation comes from taking the torch and keeping it moving. that's what mandela stood for. he and everyone else knows they can't possibly live forever. but if he can cause a spark that lights the torch that shows us the way, he sorta could go on forever as long as we keep moving forward on that path. but it's up to us. we gotta get busy. being nelson mandela wasn't easy. and if you want to honor the man and his legacy, there's a lot of hard work to be done, and it won't be easy. but if you want easy, then you probably weren't really paying much attention to nelson mandela in the first place.