I heard many people make comments on the passing of Nelson Mandela,
But I was most impressed with what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to say. I felt she was one who really understood the heart of the man.
But I was most impressed with what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to say. I felt she was one who really understood the heart of the man.
Hillary Rodham Clinton remembered the power and grace of Nelson Mandela, calling the late South African president a "giant among us" as she accepted a human rights award on Friday.
Mandela died Thursday at the age of 95. He had been in failing health for months.
Mandela "demonstrated unequivocally how each of us can choose how we will respond to those injustices and grievances, those sorrows and tragedies that afflict all of human kind," Clinton said on Capitol Hill. "He will certainly be remembered for the way he led, his dignity, his extraordinary understanding — not just of how how to bring democracy and freedom to his beloved South Africa — but of how important it was that he first brought freedom to himself."
Clinton was first lady when Mandela became South Africa's president in 1994. She recalled attending his inauguration and how Mandela made a point of inviting and honoring his jailers.
Clinton's remarks came as she was honored by the Tom Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, an organization created to carry on the work of the late Democratic congressman. Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress, died of cancer in 2008.
The former secretary of State noted the similarities between Mandela and Lantos. She said they "had seen the worst that humanity can offer" and noted they had been "denied their right to be a Jew in Hungary (and) a black man in South Africa during apartheid.
"They had every reason to come out -- if not embittered — cynical," Clinton said. She added that Mandela and Lantos had "joy, curiosity, enthusiasm for life that they brought with them out of the depth of such suffering."
Clinton and former President Bill Clinton will be among the dignitaries and world leaders attending Mandela's funeral in South Africa next week. The Clintons enjoyed a close relationship with the man known by his clan name of "Madiba," going back to 1992 when they first met.
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Nelson Mandela journey on earth has ended. He has completed his purpose and mission, and has now passed the baton to those left behind. He devoted his life and his entire being to the struggle against injustice. We were all blessed by his presence here. Let us not forget the lessons that he taught by the way he lived his life. We are all the recipients of his rich legacy and so it is I ask, what will your legacy be?
What
Will Your Legacy Be?
When we look back on your life,
What will we see?
What will your legacy be?
Will your memory live on
Long after you are gone?
Will you have lived in such a way
That someone has something good to say?
We have a dream to fulfill,
A foundation to build
Will you leave behind
A useful design?
Will your life be a tapestry
For generations to be?
Will your children respect what you have left?
Will they be able to follow in your steps,
Run with your shadow,
And learn all there is to know?
Will your life be an open book
For anyone who wants to take a look?
Are you building a foundation that is secure,
One that will endure?
You don’t have to be a Queen or a King
To make you life count for something.
You don’t have to be a Rosa Parks.
To leave your mark.
When we look back on your life what will we see?
What will your legacy be?
Is your life so set apart
That it can change someone’s heart?
Whose life will you have changed for the good?
Can someone be proud to stand where you once stood?
Can your children walk in your steps
Without regrets?
Will your words still speak
Will they inspire someone who grows weak?
Will your teachings live on
Long after you are gone?
Will your prayers see your family through the trying years?
Can they draw on your wisdom and your strength
when you are
no longer here?
If someone drinks from your cup
Will they be lifted up,
Challenged, and inspired
To reach a higher place?
Can they take your baton and win the race?
Are you creating a history that will last?
From generation
To generation
Because as it is so shall it forever be
Your family’s legacy.
So again I ask,
When we look back on your life,
what will we see?
What will your legacy be?
Copyright Patricia Newman-Harris
To those yet living in oppression I say this:
A Change is in the Wind
My African Brothers and Sisters,
A change is in the wind
I know it is coming I just don’t know when
Talking drums beat a message of hope over land and sea,
Hope for those hungry and living in abject poverty
A change is in the wind
I know it is coming I just don’t know when
A renewing rain will wash over hills and plains
Bringing an end to the suffering and pain
There will be economical gain
For all who have lived under unbelievable strain
Hold on.
My brother,
Hold on my sister,
It won’t be long
Before a change will come
Soon, there will be no dying little ones,
No more sickness and disease.
This will be a wind that frees,
Releasing all the chains that now bind.
It will bring a freeing of mind
Like never before.
Of this I am sure.
Believe me when I say a change is going to come
Just keep looking to the Son
Talking drums are beating a message of hope over land and
sea.
They say it is time for you to drink from the cup of mercy
I know a change is coming, I can feel it in the wind
I know it is coming I just don’t know when.
Soon hatred will no longer conceal beauty of blue skies
By and by, when the morning comes,
the battle will be won
Pain will be no more.
God will close death's door
His peace will hover like a dove
Uplifting you with love
He will right all wrongs
And lift you up where you belong.
By and by, when the morning comes,
the battle will be won
Pain will be no more.
God will close death's door
His peace will hover like a dove
Uplifting you with love
He will right all wrongs
And lift you up where you belong.
As long as there is one who is not free, the struggle continues...
May God bless you and keep you in his arms.
May God bless you and keep you in his arms.
copyright by Patricia Newman-Harris