Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela: Gravity, gravitas and greatness

Dec 08, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

My article for this issue of the paper was already completed. It was based on a speech President Obama gave to a liberal think tank, the Centre for American Progress, last week. In my humble opinion, it is the greatest speech of any president since the 20th century began. Since Sunday columns have to be in very early Saturday, mine was already completed.
Then while watching MSNBC on channel 89, the news was announced that Nelson Mandela had died. My heart dropped. He was ailing for almost six months but even in sickness and at age 95, Mandela was too priceless to the world for you to want to see him go. It as if you are involved in an act of selfishness. You wanted him to stay alive because once he is around you know the world will produce good people who will want to emulate this phenomenally great genius of a human being.
I don’t believe there is a commentator in the media, whether television or print, in any country in the world who will not devote an article to Mandela now that he is gone. I am not talking about arts and entertainment or sports. I am referring to social commentators and analysts. Maybe if someone could do a survey, I am sure there will be no exception around the world in all the countries in the world.
But what can one say about ‘Madiba’ that has not been written and spoken of the past three days? How can one strive for originality in assessing a man who probably has been exhaustively evaluated the past three days in the print and electronic media by journalists, politicians, world leaders, academics, human rights activists, statesmen and stateswomen, religious figures and many other categories of people?
I like the way American icon Rev. Al Sharpton put it. He said when you are in the company of Mandela, you see the gravity, gravitas and greatness of the man. There is general consensus around the world that he was a unique human being that subsequent civilizations may never see again. It will take a really inventive mind to explain who he was and describe the essence of his character.
How could anyone be like Mandela? Not an ounce of bitterness towards people who hated him and took away his freedom for twenty-seven years. More than any other figure in history, he wanted nothing to do with political power and after having the presidency of his country forced upon him by the world, he gave it up after his term was over. I know of no other figure in history that has shown this kind of greatness.
I believe Mikhail Gorbachev was not interested in presiding over an empire named the Soviet Union if it meant keeping hundreds of millions of people in non-freedom. But Gorbachev never turned back power the way Mandela did. I don’t know about other humans, but there is something inexplicable that runs through your body when you read about Mandela. Al Sharpton and former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said you can sense the uniqueness of the man when you are in his company.
In 2010, my wife’s Christmas gift to me was Mandela’ s “Conversations with Myself.” It is a book I will never ever forget and trust me I have read countless autobiographical accounts. The one that really moved me was the mémoire of Anna Larina titled, “This I Cannot Forget.”
Larina was the wife of Nikolai Bukharin, one of the founders of the 1918 Russian Revolution. Bukharin was too critical of dictator, Joseph Stalin, so Stalin framed him for treason, had him imprisoned then executed. “This I Cannot Forget,” documents the cruelty Stalin dished out to Bukharin and his wife. It is a book that literally will move you.
Then in 2010, my wife gave me, “Conversations with Myself,” by Nelson Mandela. If reading about Mandela sends an inexplicable bolt of sensation inside of you, then think of what would have happened to you if you had sat down and chatted with ‘Madiba’. This is the most superb autobiographical note I have ever read.
And that is easy to understand because it features the writings of a superb human being. I cannot recommend how other countries should honour him, but I can do that for Guyana.
I believe there should be a statue of Mandela in Guyana. There is one in London. This was too priceless a human being for future Guyanese generations not to know who he was. If President Ramotar will never do any great thing to leave a legacy, I recommend that he immediately fund this statute that should be located in the heart of the city. Goodbye Madiba, I learnt a lot from you.

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Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela: Gravity, gravitas and greatness

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